Purple Magic
by WildflowerDar
Summary: Dani is a hybrid. Her dad is a dormant magical, her mom a half Galra and half neko; a magical creature.
1. Prologue

Keith's POV

"_Hola! My name's Daniella! It's nice to meet you!" says a girl with brown hair that looks younger than me._

"_Uh… It's nice to meet you too. I'm Keith." I reply to her._

"_Want to be friends? We can play tag with my siblings!" She says excitedly. _

"_Sure! That sounds like fun." I reply equally excited as we run off to find her siblings._

* * *

I snapped back to the present as Iverson says to me, "This girl will be a great addition to our medical program if she decides to transfer here so don't you do anything to deter her from transferring."

Shiro who was slightly behind Iverson looked at me for a second his gaze pleading for me not to lash out at Iverson. "Fine." I tell them as I glare at Commander Iverson.

"She will be here tomorrow. You will be here with the other cadet to welcome her." Iverson informs me. I nod to them then turn around and leave for my dorm.

* * *

After dinner

Shiro came to my room that night to talk to me. "Hey Keith I understand that your not really good with social interaction but can you at least try to make friends. I worry about you with you having only me." Shiro says. I reply, "I know. I'll try but I won't guarantee anything."

"That's all I can ask for. Have a good night." Shiro tells me as he leaves the room.

After he left the room I couldn't help but think back to the memory that surfaced as my mind wandered unable to stop wonder how she was, how her life turned out after we had lost contact after my third foster family when I was ten, after my dad died. How it has been six and a half long years since I last heard from her. When we had lost contact. Her smile and face was in the forefront of my mind as I drifted off.

* * *

The next morning

The fighter and cargo pilot cadets were in two rows of ten to welcome the medical student to a tour of the school to see if she wanted to transfer. Keith was in the row of fighter pilots waiting for her to arrive in the hall with Commander Iverson and Shiro. "And these are our top twenty pilots who are around your age. As I said when we arranged this tour last time you can ask for any one of these cadets to accompany you on the tour or tour you around instead of us if you want like you asked." Commander Iverson was telling a brunette female teenager as they entered the hall. Lance started to puff up to try and gain her attention though she ignored him after a glance. She seemed familiar to me but I couldn't put my finger on it. Then she locked eyes with me and I knew who she was.

* * *

Daniella's POV

I arrived at Galaxy Garrison that morning a little nervous. I still wasn't sure if I wanted to join their medical program but I needed to get away from my family and live my life my way. I came up to the door to meet with Commander Iverson and Captain Shiro to go over the tour if I don't decide to choose one of the cadets to tour me around instead. "Welcome to the Galaxy Garrison Ms. Dove." Commander Iverson says. I reply, "Good morning so where are we starting?" Commander Iverson then tells me as they lead me into the building and continued into a hall, "This building is where we help make the next generation of elite astroexplorers and these are our top twenty pilots who are around your age. As I said when we arranged this tour last time you can ask for any one of these cadets to accompany you on the tour or tour you around instead of us if you want like you asked." I look at the cadets lined up in two rows of ten. I see one trying to get my attention. I glanced at him and decide to ignore him. As I look at the cadets I see one that is familiar to me with that black hair in a mullet hairstyle. He then locks eyes with me and I knew immediately who he was with those blue-violet eyes. He was towards the end of his line and I started to walk towards him. "Hola. Would you mind being my tour guide on this lovely day cadet?" I ask him my eyes gleaming with mischief.

* * *

Lance's POV

I watched as a pretty young lady walked in with Commander Iverson and Captain Shiro and I heard them say that she could choose one of us to be her tour guide. I try to puff myself up so that she would choose me to be her tour guide. Only to watch as she glanced over me and walked over to that asshole Keith Kogane and asked him to be her tour guide. How dare he beat me again. Though he might refuse and then I can get my chance or if she transfers I can get her to see that he is a total loser and that she should hang out with someone like me.

* * *

Keith's POV

After we locked eyes I saw that she recognized me as well. She then walked over to me and said, "Hola. Would you mind being my tour guide on this lovely day cadet?" with mischief gleaming in her eyes. Only for just before I can reply Iverson tells her, "I wouldn't recommend letting this cadet be your tour guide." Only for her to glare up at him and reply to him with, "And why shouldn't I. You told me I could choose any cadet that was in this hall to be my tour guide and I choose him and if he refuses then ok I will continue this tour with you and Captain Shiro but only if he refuses and you didn't even let him answer." Before Iverson or Shiro could reply to her I answered her with a smirk, "I wouldn't mind to help show you around the Garrison today. Miss?" She relies with, "Daniella Dove, and your name would be?" and she held out her hand to shake. As I shake her hand I tell her, "Keith Kogane nice to meet you."

Iverson then blurted out, "Are you sure you want this cadet? He has disciplinary Issues."

"Yes, I am sure." Daniella replies. She then turns to me and says, "Lead on good sir."

"Ok." I say as I start to lead her deeper into the building. After we exit the hall I start to lead her to the library. "You want to see the Library first Dani?" I ask her. She then exclaims, "You remembered how much I love books Keith!" I then tell her, "Of course I do."

* * *

Back at the hall (third person POV)

Iverson excuses the rest of the cadets to do what they want for the rest of the day since it's the weekend. He then turns to Shiro and asked him, "What the hell was that I know for a fact that Kogane ignores most people why didn't he ignore her?"

Shiro replies, "I don't know." He then walks off in the same direction as Keith went.

* * *

At the library (Daniella's POV)

"I'm sorry I lost contact with you six years ago." I tell Keith.

"It's ok I moved homes and my new foster parents wouldn't let me contact you so I couldn't send you stuff and when I was able to, you had moved so it wasn't entirely your fault." Keith replied.

"Well if your here I definitely will transfer here so we can catch up and you can teach me how to fly and I'll teach you medicine." I tell him. Time started to fly as we toured the Garrison and talked. When the time came for the tour to be over I said to Keith, "Time for me to go to Commander Iverson and Captain Shiro to start my transfer here. I will talk more after I transfer here. It's nice to see you again after so long apart Keith. Hope you have a goodnight tonight."

As I turn I spot Captain Shiro from the corner of my eye as Keith tells me, "Hope you have a goodnight too. It's good to see you too since we lost contact after my dad died."

* * *

Shiro's POV

I turn a corner only to see Keith and Daniella Dove at the end it seems like they are ending the tour and I hear Daniella say to Keith, "Time for me to go to Commander Iverson and Captain Shiro to start my transfer here. I will talk more after I transfer here. It's nice to see you again after so long apart Keith. Hope you have a goodnight tonight." As She turns towards my direction Keith tells her, "Hope you have a goodnight too. It's good to see you too since we lost contact after my dad died."

I then decide to enter into the conversation by calling out to them with, "Hey Keith, Daniella."

Keith startled and turns to me as Daniella turns slowly to face me with a small smile. "Hey I was just about to go to find you or Commander Iverson to start my transfer." Daniella says.

"So you decided to transfer?" I asked. "Yep," Daniella replied. She and I then go to the office to start the transfer.

* * *

At Daniella's home (Daniella's POV)

"Hey. I'm home." I call out after I enter the door. No one answers. I think that's strange. "Homenum Revelio." I whisper. The spell tells me that there are two people are in the kitchen, one in one of the bedrooms and another one in the other bedroom. "Hey why didn't you guys reply to me?" I ask as I enter the kitchen to find some my family there.

"Did you use your magic to see where in the house we were?" My dad asked.

"Hey you know I graduated from the magical school at the end of December and as long as I don't use my wand they can't sense me using magic." I tell my dad.

"But you know that no witch or wizard or any magical creature from Earth has ever left earth not even to explore space! I worry about you transferring into the Garrison." My mom then says to me.

"But you know I'm not human. Well not technically. I have human blood but I'm one-fourth galra who are from space and I'm a neko from grandma, though I haven't got my ears and tail yet." I tell them. "I am going to space one day I know it and I'm going to learn and besides. I found Keith, I'm going to catch up with him."

* * *

Keith and Daniella grew close as the months passed and on July fourth on Daniella's birthday when she got her ears and tail. She decided to tell Keith about being a neko and how she could use magic and cast spells. She also tells him about how her grandfather was from space but how she never meet him cause he died before she was born. Daniella and Keith were both there with the holts to see off the Kerberos crew. Daniella and Keith started dating shortly after the Kerberos crew left earth. When they were said to be lost due to pilot error and Keith got expelled from Galaxy Garrison, Daniella visited him when he was drawn out into the desert and was there when she could as they deciphered what the carvings of the blue lion they found were saying.


	2. Rise of Voltron - part 1

Daniella's POV

It was morning before class I was writing in my journal that is connected to the journal that I gave to Keith to talk to him when I couldn't go and visit him. He was telling me about how the carvings were talking about an arrival and he estimated that it's tonight so I wrote him back that I would ride out there to help him on my hoverboard, that we had made since we reunited when we were sixteen and now we're eighteen. The day passed relatively normal with Lance, Pidge, and Hunk getting yelled at. That night I started to sneak out of the school when I saw Lance and Hunk sneaking around. While I was using my magic to make me invisible and just had to make sure I didn't make any noise they had to hide and did it pretty well. I watched as they were about to make it to Pidge's room when she exited her room and ran off to the roof. I wondered why no one realized that Pidge Gunderson was really Katie Holt, She looked like a younger version of Matt with her hair short and those glasses. I decided to follow them up to the roof and listen in on their conversation.

Pidge was on the roof with headphones on with her equipment. Then Lance sneaks up behind her, then softly pulls her headphones off and asks in her ear, "You come up here to rock out?" She jumps away from him with a scream.

"Oh, Lance, Hunk. No, I was just looking at the stars." She tells them as Hunk crawls towards her.

Lance frowns at the tech and asks her, "Where'd you get this stuff? It doesn't look like Garrison tech."

Only for her to reply with, "I built it."

Hunk attempts to touch the equipment and asked, "You built all this?"

Pidge then slaps his hand away. "Stop it! With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system."

Lance puts a hand under his chin. "That right? All the way to Kerberos?"

Pidge shrinks away

"You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up. What's your deal?" Lance asks.

Hunk touches the equipment again. "Second warning, Hunk." Pidge tells him.

Lance speaks again. "Look, Pidge. If we're going to bond as a team, we can't have any secrets."

"Fine. The world as you know it is about to change. The Kerberos mission wasn't lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake."

Hunk's hand slowly floats towards the equipment.

"STOP TOUCHING MY EQUIPMENT!" Pidge yells at Hunk as he flops over

Pidge continues. "So I've been scanning the system and picking up radio alien chatter."

Hunk flings himself up. "Woah, what? Aliens?"

Lance crosses his arms. "Okay. So you're insane. Got it." At this I have to strangle the urge to strangle him.

Pidge then tells them, "I'm serious! They keep repeating one word. Voltron." Pidge continues, "And tonight it is going crazier than I have ever heard it."

Lance then asks, "How crazy?"

I then heard the PA system turn on and I knew I had to go so I took off to where I was supposed to go. As I discreetly took off there I heard the PA system say, "Attention students, this is not a drill. We are on lockdown. Security Situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: All students are to remain in barracks until further notice."

I had gotten to a hill near the crash where they had started to quarantine the spaceship after it crashed. As I was watching them I hear a noise from my left and a bit above me. I noticed then that Lance, Pidge, and Hunk were watching the crash site from a hill top right to the left and above mine.

* * *

A few minutes earlier (Third person POV)

The PA system turns on behind Lance, Hunk, and Pidge. "Attention students, this is not a drill. We are on lockdown. Security Situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: All students are to remain in barracks until further notice.

With all three confused Hunk asks, "What's going on?" before turning and pointing at the sky. "Is that a meteor? A very, very big meteor?"

A giant spaceship is hurtling towards Earth, leaving behind a trail of orange light.

Pidge grabs a pair of high tech binoculars and looks at it. "It's a ship!"

Lance pulls the binoculars away from her and looks through them as well. "Holy crow! I can't believe what I'm seeing! That's not one of ours."

Pidge interrupts, "No. It's one of theirs."

"So, wait. There really are aliens out there?" Hunk stares wide-eyed as the ship crashes into the ground a while away from the Garrison.

Three patrol cars then light up and begin heading to the site of the crash.

Lance and Pidge then get up immediately. "We've got to see that ship!" Pidge says excitedly.

"Hunk, come on!" Lance calls as he ran after Pidge.

Hunk reluctantly follows. "This is the worst team building exercise ever."

* * *

The hill by the crash (Daniella's Pov)

While watching the crash site for my signal to jump into action I was listening in on what Lance, Pidge, and Hunk were saying with my stronger sense of hearing.

Lance then says, "Woah, what the heck is that thing?" And then confuses me by saying, "And who the heck is she?"

"Lance!" I hear Pidge say to him. Then I hear Lance cry, "Ow!" I then assume she hit him. I then hear him say, "Right, alien ship. Man, we'll never get past those guards to get a look."

Then Hunk responds with, "Aw, man. Yeah, yeah, guess there's nothing to do but head back to the barracks, right?"

Pidge then says, "Wait! They set up a camera in there and I grabbed it's feed. Look!"

I then hear Takashi (She never felt truly comfortable calling him Shiro, you'll find out why later) say, "Hey, What are you doing?" I froze for a second as I heard his voice.

I then hear Iverson say, "Calm down, Shiro. We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests."

Shiro then says panicking , "You have to listen to me! They destroy worlds! Aliens are coming!"

Lance then says, "Look! That's Shiro. The pilot of the Kerberos Mission! That guy's my hero!"

"Guess he's not dead in space after all," I hear Hunk mutter to himself.

I then hear Pidge murmur "Where's the rest of the crew?"

I hear Iverson then say from the computer, "Do you know how long you've been gone?"

Shiro answers with, "I don't know. Months? Years? Look, there's no time! Aliens are coming here for a weapon. They're probably on their way! They'll destroy us, we have to find Voltron."

I then hear Pidge exclaim, "Voltron!"

Someone then says, "Sir, look at this. His arm has been replaced by a cyborg prosthetic."

Iverson replies with, "Put him under until we know what that thing can do."

I then hear Shiro panicky say, "No! Don't put me under, no, there's no time!"

I then barely hear Pidge whisper, "They didn't ask about the rest of the crew."

Lance then asks, "What are they doing? He's a legend and they're not even going to listen to him?"

Pidge then tells Lance, "We have to get him out."

I think you are going to be a little late for that because I'm pretty sure now that Shiro is the arrival that Keith and I have been planning to rescue. Though I don't say this out loud.

Hunk then asks them, "Uh, I hate to be the voice of reason, always, but weren't we watching on TV because there was no way to get past the guards?"

Lance then replies with, "That was before we were properly motivated. We just got to think. Could we tunnel in?"

Pidge then suggests, "Maybe we could get some hazmat suit and sneak in like med techs?"

As Hunk says, "Or, we could dress up like cooks, head back to the dorms, sneak into the commissary-little late night snack." I start paying more attention to the horizon where I know Keith has planted the bombs as a distraction for us to sneak in.

Just as I'm readying to propel myself off the hill on my hoverboard I hear Lance say, "Yeah, no. What we need is a distraction."

They scream as several bombs go off and I jump off the hill on my hoverboard as the Garrison leave to go to the explosion.

* * *

Up on the hill (Third person POV)

Pidge, Lance, and Hunk scream as several bombs go off in the distance.

Hunk asks, "Is that the aliens? Is that the aliens?! Are they here? They got here so quick!"

Pidge then points and says, "No, those explosions were a distraction. For them."

They see patrol cars driving towards the explosions, a hoverbike flying towards the site of the crash, and a girl on a hoverboard going towards the site from their direction.

"The Garrison's headed towards the blast, and their sneaking in from the other side." Pidge points out.

Lance looks through the binoculars to see Keith and Daniella running towards the crash site.

"No way! Oh, he is not going to beat us in there. That guy is always trying to one-up me." Lance says.

Lance takes off the binoculars and starts running down the hill.

Hunk asks, "Who is it?"

Lance then replies with, "Keith!" Then says as an afterthought, "And Daniella."

Hunk as he runs after Lance asks, "Are you sure?"

Pidge then stood up and says, "Who?"

Lance then calls back to Hunk. "Oh, I'd recognize that mullet anywhere! And Daniella is the only person to hang around Keith."

Pidge as she runs after them asks again. "Who's Keith? And who's Daniella?"

The three slide down the hill and run.

* * *

Inside the crash site (Still third person POV)

Keith opens a metal door, wearing a bandana over most of his face. Daniella is slightly behind him.

"Hey!" A man shouts as everyone in the room races at Keith.

Keith then gets into a fighting position and flings one man across the room into a table. He knocks another over the other table. Then he punches the other man hard enough to knock him into the table Shiro is on and knocks him out.

As Keith runs over to the table Daniella says, "It's Takashi Keith."

Keith pulling his bandanna off and eyes wide, looks at Shiro. Keith's face pales as he whispers, "Shiro…?"

They both then pull out a knife each and cut the bonds off Shiro. Keith pulls him up by his arm and wraps his arm around his shoulder. Daniella can't help cause she's on the other side of the table.

Hunk, Pidge, and Lance then walk in. "No, no, nope-no you don't. I'm saving Shiro."

Lance pushes the table out of his way and wraps Shiro's other arm around his shoulder.

"Ow…" Daniella says as the table hits her from when Lance shoved it.

Keith frowns and asks, "Who are you?"

"Who am I? Uh, the name's Lance." Waiting for a reaction. "We were in the same class at the Garrison."

Keith blinks. "Really? Are you an engineer?"

Lance seems like he is getting more annoyed by the moment. "No! I'm a pilot. We were like, rivals. You know Lance and Keith, neck and neck."

Keith's frown deepens. "Oh, yeah, I remember you. You're a cargo pilot."

Lance glares and tells him, "Well, not anymore. I'm fighter class now, thanks to you washing out."

Keith then says dully, "Well, congratulations."

Keith and Lance lift Shiro and walks out with Daniella trailing behind them.

Hunk is watching through the binoculars to see the Garrison members running back from the explosion area holding guns. "Oh, man, they're coming back and they do not look happy."

The group other than Daniella head for Keith's hoverbike. Hunk asks, "Hey, mind if we catch a ride with you?" Daniella gets on her hoverboard and it starts to float in the air with her on it.

As Hunk climbs on the hoverbike, it tips backwards. Pidge yelped, "Is this thing going to be big enough for all of us?"

Keith replies, "No."

As the Garrison patrol cars come into view. Keith starts the hoverbike and it lifts off the ground, flying off. Daniella starts to fly off in the same direction on her hoverboard. Pidge holds Shiro up on the hoverbike. Pidge then asks, "Why am I holding this guy?"

"Hey, we did all fit." Hunk commented, holding onto the back of the plane. As Daniella flies a bit in front of them she calls out "We all did not fit because I can't fit on it with you guys on it."

Lance turned around to look at the patrol cars, which are gaining on them. "Can't this thing go any faster?"

Kieth staring straight ahead with determination when he replied, "We could toss out some non-essential weight."

"Oh, right!" Lance looks around before realizing. "Okay, so that was an insult. I get it.

As the patrol cars near, Keith yells, "Big man, lean left!"

Hunk leans left and the whole hoverbike tilts left with him. Daniella flies left with them as one of the patrol cars hits a bump and flips over and also hits another patrol car.

Hunk then calls out, "Aw, man Mr. Harris just wiped out Professor Montgomery! No, no, he's fine."

Daniella then flies right off the edge of a cliff to the other cliff close by just as Keith calls out, "Big man, lean right."

Hunk then leans right and the hoverbike flies off the edge of the cliff to the other cliff close by. The group screams loudly before hitting solid ground again.

The patrol cars follow easily until one of them wipes out on the side.

Hunk points ahead. "Guys, is that a cliff up ahead?"

The group holds on tighter to the hoverbike. "Oh, no, no, no, no!" Lance stammers.

Keith leans forward with a smile. "Yep."

The group continues with their protesting until the hoverbike flies off the edge of the cliff and start falling. Daniella follows them on her hoverboard to their right.

The entire group except for Keith, Daniella, and obviously Shiro, start screaming at the top of their lungs. The patrol car stops at the top of the cliff.

Lance then asks panicking, "What are you doing? You're going to kill us all!"

Keith then says to him, "Shut up and trust me."

Keith tilts the hoverbike back and starts the boosters on the bottom, saving them just before they hit the ground. Daniella without the others noticing uses her magic to slow her descent to safely stop at the bottom before following Keith out into the desert.


	3. Rise of Voltron - part 2

Daniella's POV

I watch from the shack as Keith walks up a small hill to stand next to Shiro. He puts his hand on Shiro's shoulder. "It's good to have you back." Keith says.

"It's good to be back." Shiro replies.

Keith then asks him, "So what happened out there? Where were you?"

"I wish I could tell you. My head's still pretty scrambled. I was on an alien ship, but somehow I escaped. It's all a blur." Shiro tells Keith.

Shiro turns to Keith. "How did you know to come save me when I crashed?"

Keith looks up at Shiro and tells him, "You should come see this."

As they walk to the shack I say to Shiro, "It's good to see that you're OK Takashi." As I wave to him.

* * *

Inside the shack

We all watch as Keith pulls a sheet off his board.

"What have you been working on?" Shiro asks. His voice sounding shocked.

"I can't explain it, really." Keith says, "After getting booted from the Garrison, I was kind of lost and found myself drawn out to this place. It's like something...some energy, was telling me to search."

"For what?" Shiro says.

"Well, I didn't really know at the time...until I stumbled across this area." Keith points at a place on the map labeled, "ENERGY SOURCE" with a big, black circle around it. "It's an outcropping of giant boulders with caves covered in these ancient markings." I look over the board again, looking at the photos he took of the lions carved into the stone, cave walls.

"Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion, but they all share clues leading to some event, some arrival happening last night. Then, you showed up." Keith says as he turns to look at Shiro.

I watch as Takashi turns to the rest of us. "I should thank you all for getting me out. Lance, right?" He then walks over to Lance, offering his hand for him to shake. I see Lance hesitate before shaking his hand.

Shiro then shakes hands with Pidge. "The nervous guy is Hunk, I'm Pidge."

Pidge pulls her hand away and looks up at Shiro. "So, did anyone else from your crew make it out?"

Shiro looks away. "I'm not sure. I remember the mission and being captured. After that, it's just bits and pieces."

Hunk lifts two fingers. "Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but back to the aliens. Where are they now? Are they coming? Are they coming for us? Where are they at this very moment?"

Shiro looks down. "I can't really put it together. I remember the word 'Voltron'. It's some kind of weapon they're looking for, but I don't know why. Whatever it is, I think we need to find it before they do."

Hunk starts sorting through a bag. "Well, last night I was rummaging through Pidge's stuff, and I found this picture." He holds up a picture of Matt and Pidge, but thinks it's Pidge and a girl. "Look, it's his girlfriend." He chuckles.

Pidge grabs the picture. "Hey, give me that! What were you doing in my stuff?" Pidge grabs her bag and puts the picture back inside the bag.

Hunk looks away. "Well, I was looking for a candy bar. But, then, I started reading his diary." Hunk then pulls the diary out of his back pocket.

Pidge looks startled. "What?!" She grabs the diary.

Hunk ignores her and turns to the group. "And I noticed the repeating series of numbers the aliens are searching for looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line."

Keith looks at Hunk. "Frown who?"

Hunk then turns to look at Keith. "It's a number describing the emission spectrum of an element, only, this element doesn't exist on Earth. I thought it might be this Voltron and I think I can build a machine to look for it, like a Voltron Geiger counter."

Lance crosses his arms over his chest and smiles. "Hunk, you big, gassy genius!"

Hunk smiles. "It's pretty fascinating, really. The wavelength looks like this." He then pulls a paper with a graph on it out of his coat pocket and presents it to the group. I realize it looks a lot like an outcropping out in the desert near some of the caves.

Keith grabs the paper. "Give me that." He then walks over to the picture of the mountains and holds the graph up to it. It fits perfectly.

* * *

In front of the mountains

Lance looks around. "Okay, I admit it. This is super freaky."

"I'm getting a reading." Hunk says as he shoves Pidge without meaning to. He walks with his machine, Pidge trailing behind him to help hold the rest of the equipment.

We follow Hunk and Pidge as the beeping from the device grows more and more erratic leading us down to the entrance of one of the caves in the area.

As we walk into the cave with carvings of lions on the walls. Shiro asks, "What are these?" as the rest of them stare in awe.

"These are the lion carvings I was telling you about." Keith replies, his voice echoing. "They're everywhere around here."

I watch as Lance walks over to one of the walls, examining a carving. He places one of his hands on it, wiping some dust off. As soon as hid did, The carving begins to glow blue. "Woah!" Lance exclaims, jumping back.

As all the carvings in the cave begin to glow blue, I look around in concern feeling like something was going to happen. I hear Keith tell them, "They've never done that before." The ground underneath us cracks and starts glowing blue as well.

The ground collapses underneath us and we fall with a flow of water. Pidge on top of Hunk pulling his hair. Both Hunk and Pidge are screaming while the rest of us gasp with surprise as we fall.

We land in a pool of water. I was waiting for the room to stop spinning before I hoist myself up on my hands and knees. I hear Lance push himself up in a kneeling position. I look up and see a mechanical blue lion with a blue shield around it, as Lance gasps and says, "They are everywhere."

All of us then stand up as we look at it. "Is this it? Is this the Voltron?" Pidge asks.

"It must be." Shiro stammered.

"This is what's been causing all this crazy energy out here." Keith adds. As Keith and I start jogging to it, he says, "Looks like there's a force field around it."

The rest of them following us. Lance is weaving side to side. " "Does anyone else get the feeling this is staring at them?"

"No." Shiro replies skeptically

"Yeah." Lance continues weaving back and forth, eyes never leaving the giant lion. "The eyes are totally following me."

Keith and I come to a stop in front of the force field. I think I see a gleam from the lion's eyes. "I wonder how we get through this." Keith contemplates, pressing his hands against the shield. Lance comes to a stop next to him casually.

"Maybe you just have to knock." Lance drawls, doing just that. The shield flashes, and Lance recoils. I see a blue mist like energy expelling from the space between his hand and the shield.

As Lance yelps, I see the lion's eyes glow a bright yellow, and the force field around the lion dissolves.

I see the markings underneath the lion begin to glow, and a surge of energy pushes upward, wind sweeping through the cave. I hear the others make noises of surprise, watching as the light brightens. I see Lance stare up at the lion in shock from the corner of my eyes.

A vision appears of a purple glowing lion followed by four others. They came together and a giant, magnificent metal warrior was formed, with the help of a lion, gleaming eyes, and a flaming sword that swept through the air. Lightning surged through the sword and with a mighty swing, the warrior wielded his weapon. We six of us stare in shock, awestruck.

"Whoa." All of us except Hunk say.

"Uh," Lance stammers, looking back at us, "Did everyone just see that?" He gestures in front of us.

Hunk then blurts out, "Voltron is a robot. Voltron is a huge, huge, awesome robot!"

Pidge continues with, "And this thing is only one part of it! I wonder where the rest of them are."

"This is what they're looking for." Shiro observes.

"Incredible." Keith says with a wonder-filled tone as I say, "Marvelous." at the same exact time.

Then the lion begins to rise to its feet. Pidge and Hunk scream. Keith, Takashi, and I get into a fighting stance as it crouches down in front of us, opening its maw to let down a hatch.

While the rest of us were cautious, Lance ogles in shocked awe as the walkway clearly opens in front of him. I watch him as he shoot us quick glances before grinning, striding forward.

After a few seconds we follow him inside. As I enter I see the chair with Lance on it lurch forward as he yelps. Around us screens flicker to life. We all watch as the cave outside became visible. Lance laughs gleefully, While the rest of us gasp in awe. "All right! Very nice!" Lance chuckles in approval.

Hunk then tells us, "Okay guys, uh, I just feel the need to point out, just so that we're all, you know, aware. We are in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now."

"Technically it's a futuristic alien lion head." I reply to Hunk.

Suddenly I hear Lance gasp in surprise.

Lance spins around to look at us. "Whoa. Did you guys just hear that?" He asks.

"Hear what?" Keith and I ask in confusion. Lance then looks back at the front of the lion, startled.

Lance then says, "I-I think it's talking to me."

I watch as he leans forward staring at the buttons in front of him. Hesitantly, he presses a few buttons. The blue lion gets to its feet and roars. Pidge and Hunk scream again.

I see Lance more confidently grasp onto the two control handles.

"Okay. Got it." He replies to someone that no one else here, could hear. "Now, let's try this." Lance says smirking, slamming the handles forwards.

We burst out of a cliff side. The Blue lion jumps a giant leap, flipping before shooting forwards. We fly up incredibly fast. Hunk and Pidge are grasping onto Lance who I don't think is very pleased. Takashi and Keith grasp onto the ceiling. I drop down to the floor grasping the wall next to me. Pidge and Hunk are screaming

"You are, the, worst, pilot, ever!" I hear Keith gasp out as the lion spins upside down. My ears are ringing as Pidge and Hunk continue screaming. I think I even hear Lance screaming. My stomach then starts doing flops as I feel nausea come to me.

The blue lion then skid across the earth, running forward like the actual animal. I see Lance look back at us.

"Isn't this awesome?" He grins. Hunk lurches forward with a pain-filled expression on his face.

"Make it stop. Make it stop." He begs Lance. My ears are no longer ringing but my nausea hasn't started going down yet.

"I'm not making it do anything." Lance says. "It's like it's on autopilot." We are then shooting upwards.

"Where are you going?" Keith shouts at Lance.

"I just said it's on autopilot!" Lance defends. "It says there's an alien ship approaching Earth. I think we're supposed to stop it."

Just as I'm about to yell at him to explain better when Pidge asks him exasperated, "What did it say, exactly?"

"Well, it's not like it's saying words. It's more like feeding ideas into my brain, kind of." Lance replies.

"Well, if this thing is the weapon they're coming for, why don't we just, I don't know, give it to them? Maybe they'll leave us alone." We all turn to look at Hunk. Hunk looks up, apologetically at the ceiling of the lion. "Sorry, lion. Nothing personal."

"You don't understand." Shiro tells him seriously. "These monsters spread like a plaque throughout the galaxy, destroying everything in their path. There's no bargaining with them. They won't stop until everything is dead."

Everyone except me gives Hunk judging stares.

Hunk then says, "Oh. Never mind then."

The Blue Lion roars as we break through the stratosphere, right as an alien cruiser appears out of nowhere.

We all gasp.

"Holy crow! Is that really an alien ship?" Hunk gawks. I can see that Takashi looks rattled.

"They found me." He says.

Purple lasers begin shooting from the large alien ship. Pidge then spins towards Lance, "We've got to get it out of here!"

Lance lurches the controls back. "Hang on!" He shouts. We dart around the lasers frantically. "All right. Okay. I think I know what to do." Lance tells us.

Pidge skids in. "Be careful, man. This isn't a simulator!"

"Well, that's good. I always wreck the simulator." Lance laughs in relief. I have no idea if I'm supposed to be comforted with that or not.

Lance slams one of the handles forward and the lion shoots a bright beam of light that sears into the side of the cruiser, making explosions in its wake.

Lance grins. "Let's try this." He pulls both handles back making the lion fly through space dodging all the beams and raking its metal claws into the side of the ship, making even more explosions.

We all cheer.

"Nice job, Lance." Shiro praises Lance.

"Okay." Lance says satisfied. "I think it's time to get these guys away from our planet." We then shoot off into space.

The alien cruiser is in pursuit of us.

"Oh, no!" Hunk moans, his voice cracking.

"They're gaining on us!" Pidge informs Lance starkly.

"It's weird." Lance observes. "They're not trying to shoot us. They're just chasing."

"Okay, seriously, now we think having aliens follow us is good?" Hunk cries. "I am not on board with this new direction, guys."

I then say, "They probably were given orders to capture the lion intact which means they won't shoot to kill. We are also getting them away from our planet saving it from them."

Keith looks out into space asking Lance, "Where are we?"

"Edge of the solar system." Shiro breaths. "There's Kerberos."

"It takes months for our ship to get out this far." Pidge exclaims in disbelief. "We got out here in five seconds."

There's a flash and suddenly a wormhole appears in front of us.

Hunk asks, "What is that."

"Uh," Lance stutters. "This may seem crazy, but I think the lion wants us to go through there." An uneasy silence falls upon us.

"Where does it go?" Pidge asks Lance quietly, nervously.

"I-I don't know." Lance answers. "Shiro, you're the senior officer here. What should we do?" He glances at the oldest of us

"Whatever is happening, the lion knows more than we do. I say we trust it, but we're a team now. We should decide together." At this, Shiro looks around at the rest of us.

We all make eye contact with one another, coming to an agreement.

Pidge then places her hand on Lance's shoulder. He looks over, seeming to receive his answer in Pidge's firm gaze.

"All right." He says, resigned. "Guess, we're all ditching class tomorrow." The lion soars through the wormhole.

The lion then shakes, all of us struggling to stay upright, groaning from the pressure.

We exit the wormhole next to a planet that looks similar to Earth.

"Whoa." Lance states numbly. "That was…" To his side, Hunk kneels over and vomits. Lance cringes away. I can feel the nausea rise. I feel myself gag but I don't throw up, though I feel like it. I closed my eyes as Hunk vomits to stop myself from vomiting as I'm a sympathetic vomiter.

"So sorry." I hear Hunk apologize weakly before I hear him continuing to vomit.

"I'm just surprised it took this long." I hear Pidge say honestly.

"You OK, Dani?" I hear Keith ask me.

"I will be, just give me a few minutes." I tell him my eyes still closed.

"I don't recognize any of these constellations." Shiro says. "We must be a long, long way from Earth."

"The lion seems to want to go to this planet." Lance informs us. "I think… I think it's going home."

The lion flies swiftly towards the planet and enters the atmosphere.

In the cockpit, everyone but me are huddled around the seat. I'm now clutching onto the ceiling near the seat.

"Guys, personal space. Hunk, your breath is killing me." Lance says.

"Um, is it just me or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious wormhole? Why are we listening to a robotic lion anyway?" Hunk asks.

"It got us away from that alien warship, didn't it?" Lance replies.

Keith then tells him, "I don't know if you noticed, but we're in an alien warship."

"Oh, are you scared?" Lance says.

"With you at the helm? Terrified." Keith replies.

"All right, knock it off." Shiro commands.

"No one's happy to be in this situation, but we're here now. If we want to get through this, we've got to do it together." Shiro adds.

"So, what do we do?" Pidge asks looking at everyone.

Shiro looks down. "First, we find out where we're headed. Lance?"

Lance looks down. "I don't know. I'm sorry. The lion's not talking to me anymore. Wait! Wait, wait, wait! Shh! Listen. I think I hear something."

I mumble under my breath, "Yeah, an idiot."

Keith looks around. "I'm hearing it too."

I plug my nose as there was a squeaking noise.

Hunk starts looking around too. "It's, uh- kind of a- a high-pitched squeal?"

The sound then becomes an obvious fart and everyone else wrinkles their noses.

Everyone groans and everyone but me covers their mouths. Lance smirks. "Come on, Lance!" We all say in unison.

"But seriously, there's a castle up ahead." Lance tells us.

"Wow." We all say. As the lion then slowly begins to land in front of the castle, the top of the castle glows blue.

The lion then lands in front of the castle.

"Keep your guard up." Shiro tells us.

"Something wrong?" Pidge asks.

"My crew was captured by aliens once. I'm not going to let it happen again." Shiro tells Pidge.

We all then walk out of the lion.

The lion suddenly growls and stands up, startling us. "No! No, I knew it was going to eat us! No!" Hunk says covering his eyes and curling away from the lion.

Then the lion roars, the castle doors glow blue and open. Hunk hiding behind Shiro says, "Oh, the door is open." Hunk turns to the lion. "Guess I was wrong about you."

We walk inside. "Hello?" Hunk calls out, the sound echoing through the large hallway. We turn to stare at him

Hunk shrugs. Pidge turns to the staircase in front of us. "From the size of the lion, I expected these steps to be bigger."

A blue light flashes down from the ceiling, encasing us. "Hold for identity scan."

I hear Pidge mutter, "What?"

Shiro looks up to the ceiling and asks, "Why are we here? What do you want with us?" Light flickers on down the hall in front of us.

Pidge then says, "Well, I guess we're going that way."

We continue walking down the halls where the lights turn on. Hunk calls out again.

"Where are we?" Lance asks, as we enter a large seemingly empty room. Pidge looks down at a monitor. "It's some kind of control room." She says.

Behind Pidge, a pod slowly rises up from the ground, the shadow of a woman inside. Another pod rises up nearby, with the shadow of a man.

Hunk is hiding behind what I think is the control panel for the pods. He then asks, "Are these guys dead?"

The first pod slowly opens, revealing a young woman inside. She takes a moment before opening her eyes. "Father!" She gasps.

As She falls forward Lance rushes to catch her. After he catches her, she looks up at him with a tired expression, and Lance blushes. "Hello." He says flirtatiously.

"Who are you? Where am I?" She asks, looking around. "I'm Lance. And you're right here in my arms."

"Your ears." She says. Lance glances nervously towards his ears. "Yeah?"

The woman was silent for a couple seconds. "They're hideous." She pulls away from Lance. "What's wrong with them?"

Lance growls. "Nothing's wrong with them! They heard exactly what you said about them!"

She then pulls him by one ear and pulls his other arm behind his head, shoving him to the ground. Lance screams.

She holds him down. "Who are you? Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?" She demands. I see Lance has tears in his eyes as he replies with, "A giant blue lion brought us here! That's all we know."

She looks around. "How do you have the blue lion? What happened to it's paladin?"

She lets go of his ear and looks at the rest of us. "What are you all doing here? Unless… How long has it been?"

Shiro tells her, "We don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help."

She frowns and says, "I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea. I've got to find out where we are and how long we've been asleep." Allura then walks over to the control panel and puts her hands down on the handprints.

Pidge walks over. "Okay, That's how that works."

The other pod slowly opens. The man inside screams as soon as it was fully open. "Enemy combatants!" He leaps out of the pod and attempts to kick Lance, who simply dodges, and the man falls onto the floor.

"Quiznak! You're lucky I have a case of the old 'Sleep chamber knees'. Otherwise, I'd grab your head like this, wrap you up like so- one, two, three- sleepy time!" He says making a series of strange gestures. "Well, before you did that I'd-" Lance gets into a fighting position and karate chops the air and punches the air several times, adding sound effects to go along with it. "Like that."

The man then glares at Lance. "Really? How could you do that when I've already come at you with this?" He then punches the air several times, adding sound effects as well.

Allura continues working on the control panel. Hunk then comments, "Man these guys are good."

"It can't be." Allura gasps. The man looks over at her. "What is it?" The computer beeps a couple times before Allura replies, "We've been asleep for 10,000 years!"

Allura looks down in sorrow. "Planet Altea and all the planets in our solar system have been destroyed! Coran, Father is gone. Our entire civilization…" She trails off, flinching.

When she opens her eyes, she was glaring. "Zarkon." Shiro gasps. "Zarkon?"

"He was the King of the Galra. A vile creature and enemy to all free people." Allura growls. I take in a sharp intake of breath as I remember that my grandfather was galra which means he was a refuge from his own people. I then hear Shiro say, "I remember now. I was his prisoner."

Allura's eyes widen. "He's still alive? Impossible!"

Shiro then tells her, "I can't explain it, but it's true. He's searching for a super weapon called Voltron."

Allura looks at Shiro. "He's searching for it because he knows it's the only thing that can defeat him, and that's exactly why we must find it before he does."

Coran says to Allura, "Princess, you must eat. It has been 10,000 years."

"I'm not hungry." She replies.

Lance frowns, crossing his arms. "10,000 years? That's like 1,000 plus 10."

Keith and I turn to him. We say at the same time, "That's times ten."

Lance ignores me and glares at Keith saying, "Whatever, dropout."

"I haven't eaten since breakfast and I'm starving." Hunk complains. Pidge turns to him. "Yeah, but you've thrown up, like, five times."

"Hmm, good point." Hunk says, grabbing the plate of food goo Coran had left for Allura.

Shiro then looks over at Allura and Coran. "I can't believe your civilization created such advanced technology 10.000 years ago. It must have been an incredible place."

Coran's face drops and he looks down. "Yes, it was… but now it is gone and we're the last Alteans alive." He looks at Allura.

Coran hugs Allura as she cries. Soon, a sound alerts Allura and she pulls away. She walks over to the sound and find four space mice. "Looks like we're not the last after all."

The alarms begin blaring and Coran turns around with a gasp. "A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us!"

Allura, holding the mice, walks over. "How did they find us?"

"I'm not sure," Lance grumbles, "But I bet it's Keith's fault."

Keith glares at him. "Say whatever you've got to say to make yourself feel better. After getting us stuck on the other side of a wormhole!" Lance then jumps towards Keith and gets in his face. "I'll stick you in a wormhole!"

Shiro pushes Lance back. "Stow it, cadets! This is no time to place blame. It's time to work as a team. How long before they arrive?"

Coran then says to Shiro, "At their speed? Oh, well carry the two.. I'd say probably a couple of days." He frowns.

Allura raises her eyebrows. "Good. Let them come! By the time they get here, five of you will have reformed Voltron, and together, we will destroy Zarkon's empire!"

Hunk sucks the rest of the food goo off his finger and burps. "Sorry. Food goo."

Shiro then says, "Princess, there are five of these lions. How are we going to find the rest?"

She then leads us all to the bridge.

There she walks to what is about the center of the room a blue light shining over her. "King Alfor connected the lions to Allura's life force. She alone is the key to the lions' whereabouts." Coran tells Shiro.

Allura opens her eyes and what is basically a giant map fills the room.

"These are coordinates." Pidge trails off. "The Black Lion looks like it's in the same location as the Blue Lion."

Coran leans towards Pidge with a smile. "Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage."

Allura smiles brightly. "Very observant. That's because the Black Lion is in the castle."

"To keep the Black Lion out of Zarkon's hands, King Alfor locked it in the castle. It can only be freed if the other four lions are present." Coran explains.

Allura nods. "As you have found, the lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain. The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion."

"The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion."

"The Blue Lion-" Allura begins, but is cut off by Lance. "Hold up, let me guess. Takes the most handsome slash best pilot of the bunch?"

Allura stares in annoyance before deciding to move on. "The Yellow Lion is caring and kind. Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together." Hunk points to himself questioningly.

"The Red Lion is temperamental, and the most difficult to master. It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instinct than on skill alone. Keith, you will fly the Red Lion."

Lance frowns. "What? This guy?" He gestures to Keith. Lance and Keith glare at each other before turning back to Allura. I also glare at Lance then when Keith turns to Allura I do as well.

"Unfortunately, I cannot locate the Red Lion's coordinates yet. There must be something wrong with the castle. After 10,000 years, it might need some work." Allura admits.

"Don't worry, we'll find it soon. They don't call me 'The Coranic' for nothing. It's because it sounds like 'mechanic.' So… Coranic, mechanic. It's not- It doesn't sound… exactly like it. It's similar."

The small Red Lion icon in front of Keith suddenly roars and begins running, and the others follow to fly upwards. "Once all the lions are united, you will form Voltron." Allura says as the five lion icons combine to make Voltron.

"The most powerful warrior ever known, the Defender of the Universe."

"Awesome!" Hunk says. "Wait. Okay, we're going to be in there and flying lions. Got that part. How do lions turn into legs? Is this going to be a long trip? Because I have to pee. Do you guys pee?"

"We don't have much time. Pidge and I will go after the Green Lion. Lance, you take Hunk and get the yellow one. Keith, you and Daniella stay here. If you two locate that Red Lion, go get it." Shiro says, putting a hand on Keith's shoulder. Allura steps forward. "In the meantime, I'll get this castle's defenses ready. They'll be sorely needed."

Coran walks over to us. "I'll ready a pod and load in the coordinates so that you can reach the Green Lion."

The Blue Lion takes off with Lance and Hunk, along with a pod holding Pidge and Shiro.

I watch as Allura shuts her eyes and forms two wormholes. "We can only keep the wormholes that lead to the other lions open for two of your Earth hours, so you'll have to be quick about your work." Coran warns them.

"The good news is that according to my readings, both planets are relatively peaceful. So, if you do get stuck, they could be relaxing places to live out the rest of your lives. Enjoy the trip!" Coran adds, looking down at a hologram monitor.

I hear the two duos begin protesting before getting sucked into the wormholes, over the monitor.


	4. Rise of Voltron - part 3

Pidge's POV

We wormhole to a tropical planet. I then take readings of the area.

Shiro and I then reach the edge of a lake. I point to a wooden boat with a lion head carving. "Look!" I call. I then turn to my left and see what I think is a sloth?

Shiro and I scream, and I climb onto Shiro's shoulders to shield myself.

"It's just a… whatever that thing is." I trail off uncertainty. I then climb off Shiro. The sloth begins walking to the small wooden boat and gestures for us to follow it.

"I… I think he wants us to get in his canoe." I say. Shiro shrugs with a small smile.

"Then I guess we should go." He tells me.

"Huh." I mutter raising my eyebrows questioningly. Shiro adds, "I've been locked up by aliens for a year. This is nothing." We walk towards the canoe. When we got in, the sloth starts rowing the canoe through the water. In the bushes around the river, strange, but cute alien creatures peek out.

The sloth rows the canoe underneath an overhang with another lion carving on it. I smile. "I wonder if Hunk and Lance are having as good a time as us."

* * *

With Lance and Hunk (Hunk's POV)

We're screaming as the Blue Lion flips continuously. "Oh, no! No, no, no! Oh! Oh, no!" I shriek.

Two galra ships are shooting at us. To avoid getting hit by the blasts or bombs, Lance has to steer the Blue Lion sideways or upside down very quickly. We continue screaming.

A blast suddenly hits the Blue Lion and we fall from the sky.

"I thought Coran said these planets were peaceful!" I shout as the Lion continues to fall, the Galra ships following it. "Maybe 'peaceful' means something else in Altean!" Lance screams as he attempts to gain control of the Lion again.

Lance flips the Lion and uses the blasters on her paws to save us from hitting the ground. The Galra ships continue to fire at us. I pull out a device and check the coordinates. "According to the coordinates, we're right on top of the Yellow Lion." I tell Lance.

"It's below there, where they're mining for the ore. They don't even know the lion is there. Or maybe they just got here and they're digging for the lion?" I say, pointing to the mine shaft. "What do you think, Lance?"

Lance turns around to glare. "Who cares? Just go get it! I'm dropping you down there."

I smile nervously. "Me? Down there? No. No, no, no." My smile drops and I feel myself begin to sweat.

"Yes. I'll cover you!" Lance tells me as he flies the lion towards the Galra and towards the mine shaft. As the Blue Lion runs towards the mine shaft, avoiding blasts from the Galra, I continue saying, "What if the Yellow Lion doesn't work? What if I can't get in the mine? What if I start crying? Too late. I'm already crying!" I burst into tears.

Lance turns around with a frown. "Sorry, no time for questions." He presses the eject button on the control panel and I fall out of the floor with a scream.

I shoot out of the lion's mouth and start rolling across the ground towards the mines.

As I start running into the mine, Lance blocks blasts with his lion. I then open a control box.

I begin investigating the wiring of the box. "Oh, yeah, sure, just drop me off in an alien planet. That's cool, man. It's only occupied by mean purple aliens that want to kill me, but whatever. Just ignore them and go connect with a big, yellow, mechanical cat. Easy-peasy. Yeah. That all makes a ton of sense to me."

I start messing around with the wires until the 'elevator' goes down into the mines. As it sunk lower, carvings on the walls begin glowing yellow. I reach the bottom of the mines where there is an opening.

"Okay, I'm in a giant hole. Now what, Hunk?" I start looking around, turning around I see that a floor carving has started glowing yellow.

More carvings begin to glow until one large one appears on the wall. "Whoa. Pretty." I whisper. Then, I cross my arms. "How am I going to get through that?" I back up into a giant drill. "Hmm…"

I then drill a hole through the wall. Behind the wall was the Yellow Lion, encased in a particle barrier as well.

* * *

Lance's POV

I am trying to fight off the Galra ships. A blast hits the lion in the face and I grunt. Another blast hits dangerously close to the mines. I fly the lion up towards the ships again. I fly the lion full speed at a Galra ship and the lion bites it in half. I then tried to use the tail blasters to shoot the other ships, but keep missing.

The ships fly towards the mines. "Oh, no!" I say, and fly after them. The ships hit multiple places around the mines before hitting them dead on. "Hunk!" I shout in alarm.

* * *

Shiro's POV

Pidge rambles, "I know the Princess said this is supposed to be my lion, but what if she's wrong? I mean, She's probably not wrong. She's a princess, but I'm not a pilot, even though I've always wanted to be a pilot. I mean, I read all the fighter manuals, but never got to fly the simulator. But, hey, I can't be that worse than Lance. He crashed all the time. But what if I get in there and it doesn't respond? What if I get in there and it's too big and my feet don't touch the pedals? What if there aren't even pedals?!"

I smile and interrupt Pidge. "You're rambling. Listen… Our commander on the Kerberos Mission is the smartest man I've ever met, and he always said, 'If you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great.'" Pidge gasps, then I think I see him smile.

Moments later, the canoe pulls up the shore. On land there is a temple covered in roots and vines, with two stone lions in front of it. We got off the boat and waved goodbye to the sloth.

The path lights up with green stone carvings leading into the temple. Pidge hesitates before walking up the steps. I smile at him, and say, "Go. Be great."

I watch as he turns and races up the stairs into the temple. He climbs over the large roots that were there and made it to the top. I watch as the temple glows green and I hear Pidge laugh.

The Green Lion roars and startles me before it flies out of the roots with Pidge inside.

I can't help but smile proudly.

* * *

Lance's POV

As I'm flying the Blue Lion and avoiding blasts, I call out, sweating nervously, "Hunk, come on! Please, buddy!" The Blue Lion is then hit with two blasts and falls from the sky again.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no! Going down! We're going down!" I say panicking, pressing all the controls. The Blue Lion then hits the ground and rolls. When I get the Lion back up, it was crackling with electricity. Three Galra ships start flying toward me Fast. "Oh, no." I mutter, feeling exhausted.

I brace myself for impact only for Hunk in the Yellow Lion to jump out in front of me and take the blow instead.

The Yellow Lion then jumps and crushes the three ships easily. "You okay, Lance?" Hunk asks me.

"Hunk! I thought you were dead! You jumped in front of those shots to save my life!?" I exclaim.

"Well, actually, I was trying to get out of the way. Thankfully, what this lacks in speed, it more than makes up for in armor. Man, can it take a beating! Ooh." Hunk replies.

Hunk then says, "We've got incoming!" As more Galra ships appear and begin firing at Me and Hunk.

Just then, Allura video calls us. "Paladins, please hurry back. I can't hold the wormhole much longer." She warns us, before turning the call off.

"Let's get out of here!" I call and the two of us start to fly to the wormhole. As we approach the wormhole Hunk gets hit and starts spinning. I hear him say, "Not this again."

"Quit screwing around, Hunk! The wormhole is closing!" I call to him. We then fly through the wormhole.

* * *

Daniella's POV

Everyone was in the bridge except Hunk and Lance , who then walk through the door. Lance is rubbing his back and groaning, while Hunk is rubbing his neck and groaning.

"You made it." Allura says, smiling. Lance stretches his arm popping it. "Yeah, just barely. That was a nightmare. I almost puked out there. I felt like Hunk!"

Hunk rubbing his head says, "Think how I felt. I am Hunk."

I see Pidge glance at Takashi with a smile and say, "Yeah. We had a tough time, too."

I see Takashi smile back at Pidge before turning back to Allura and Coran. "Did we find the Red Lion yet?" He asks.

Coran walks forward and replies, "Allura just located it. There's a bit of good news and bad news. The good news is the Red Lion's nearby. The bad news is, it's on board that Galra ship now orbiting Arus."

Coran then smiles brightly. "But wait, good news again. We're Arus!"

Shiro then steps forward. "They're here already?" Coran nods. "Yes. Guess my calculations were a bit off. Finger counting- It's more of an art than a science. Hmm?

A hologram appears in the castle. "Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe. I am here to confiscate the lions. Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet." The hologram them disappears.

We all stare at the screen in horror. Shiro then speaks up, "All right, let's not panic." Hunk then interrupts with, "Not panic? The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship towards us. We only have four lions."

Pidge then adds, "Technically, only three working lions."

"That's right. Thank you, Pidge. Three working lions and a castle that's like, 10,000 years old." Hunk rambles. Allura looks down at her hands thoughtfully. Coran raises one finger to silence Hunk. "Actually, it's 10,600 years old. You see, it was built by my grandfather-" Hunk presses his finger to Coran's lips. "Thanks, Coran. Thank you for that. See? Now is the perfect time to panic!"

Allura's eyes widen. "Wait! This castle has a particle barrier we can activate." She tells us. Lance then raises an eyebrow flirtatiously. "Girl, you've already activated my par-" Shiro thankfully cuts him off with a glare. "Lance!"

A hologram of the Galra ship appears. "The particle barrier won't hold Sendak's ion cannon forever. The Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last. Coran says, pulling on his mustache. "Panic now?" Hunk asks.

Shiro turns to Hunk. "No. We've just got to figure out our plan of action, and figure it out quickly."

Lance narrows his eyes. "I say we pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day." Hunk nods quickly. "I second that. Yes. We tried to find all the lions, right? We gave it the old college try. Couldn't do it. We only have three. We can't form Voltron. I guess we could form a snake. Or a worm! To go through that hole, Lance, that you were talking about."

"Then it's settled." Lance says, walking forward. "Allura, you ride with me. One of you can take the old guy."

"We can't just abandon Arus." Pidge points out. "The Galra will keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we stop them." Hunk shakes his head. "Okay. If we run, then maybe Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone, like when we left earth. We form the snake-worm thingamajig and we-(hiss) out of here."

Keith shakes his head. "Sendak could destroy the planet then come after us anyway. Staying is our only option." Keith states a bit harshly. Just as I'm about to give my two-cents, Lance leans forward, glaring at Keith and says, "Here's an option: shut your quiznak."

Allura and Coran gasp. Keith leans forward as well and says, "I don't think you're using that word correctly.

"What do you know, Mullet?"

"We're staying."

"Leaving!"

"Staying!" Pidge joins in.

"Snake!" Hunk shouts.

Shiro yells, "Guys, stop!"

Keith and Lance have their heads pressed together, glaring at each other. While I see Pidge and Hunk glaring at each other.

Shiro looks to Allura. "Princess Allura, these are your lions. You've dealt with the Galra Empire before. You know what we're facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?" He asks.

Allura's eyes widen. "I… I don't know." Coran looks over at her with a frown. "Perhaps your father can help." Allura stares at him in confusion. "My father?"

* * *

Allura's POV

Coran leads me to a dark room. I walk forward and ask, "Coran, what is this?" Coran replies, "King Alfor knew there was a chance he might never see you again. So, his memories, his very being were stored in this computer for you."

I walk over to the glowing blue energy ball. It floats up before exploding and changing the room into a beautiful flower field surrounded by mountains.

Behind me, a hologram of my father appears. I gasp, tears gathering in my eyes. "Father! Father, it is so good to see you." I say, running up to him with a smile. He looks down at me . "Allura, my only child how I've missed your face."

I look down. "I'm so frightened. A Galra ship is set to attack, and I don't know what to do. Please, Father, I need your help."

"I would do anything to take this burden from you." Father says. I rest my head on the metal box. "I don't know if we should run to preserve what we have or stay and risk everything. I want to fight, but the paladins of old are gone. I know what you would do."

"I scattered the Lions of Voltron to keep them out of Zarkon's hands. You urged me to keep them and fight, but, for the greater good of protecting the universe, I chose to hide them." He tells me.

I nod. "I think I understand." I say, my eyes half shut. Only for Father to say, "No, daughter, you were right. I made a terrible mistake, one that cost the universe countless lives. Forming Voltron is the only way to stop Zarkon. You must be willing to sacrifice everything to assemble the lions and correct my error."

* * *

Daniella's POV

Allura comes to us in her battle clothes and hair tied up. She says to the others, "You five paladins were brought here for a reason. The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by you and you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe's only hope. We are the universe's only hope."

Shiro's face molds into a determined expression. "We're with you, Princess."

She leads us to a room with five sets of armor. "Your suits of armor." She says. She looks over at me and says, "We can make you a suit later. OK?"

"OK." I reply. Then Coran looks over at Allura as the others look at the suits and says to her, eyebrows raised, "Princess, are you sure about this? They aren't exactly the best and brightest the universe has to offer." Allura looks down. "No, but they're all we've got." As they say this I can't help but feel offended.

"Boys, it's time to suit up!" Shiro calls, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. I watch as they all put on their armor before all five stood before us standing proudly.

Allura places her hand on a case in front of us, and inside are weapons. "The bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron." The bayards begin floating towards their respective paladins. "It takes a distinct shape for each paladin."

Hunk's transforms into a large gun, which he struggles to hold up. Keith's takes on the shape of a long sword, and his wrist formed a shield. Lance's also transforms into a gun, though smaller than Hunk's. Pidge's transforms into a much smaller, handheld weapon.

"Aw, you got a cute little bayard." Lance teases. I start to chuckle under my breath as I watch as Pidge pushes her bayard into Lance's side electrocuting him. "Yeah, it is pretty cute." She says smugly.

Allura then looks at Shiro. "Shiro, I'm afraid your bayard was lost with its paladin."Shiro then smiles and says, "I guess I'll just have to make do."

* * *

On the Bridge

The hologram of the Galra ship was in front of us. Allura then says, "You'll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak's ship."

"That's a pretty big ship. How are we gonna know where the Red Lion is?" Keith asks.

Pidge smiles at him. "Well. It's not a matter of 'we.' It's a matter of 'you.'" She says. Hunk nods and says, "Pidge is right. Once we get you in, you'll be able to feel its presence and track it down."

Lance adds in, "Yeah. You know how you felt that crazy energy while we were in the desert?"

Kieth's eyes narrow. "Yeah. You made fun of me for that."

Lance smirks. "And I'm proud of tha-Ouch!" I elbow Lance in the side for saying that.

"Ignore him Keith. What we mean is that you should be able to sense the Red Lion's energy like you did with the Blue Lion's back on Earth." I say.

Allura then says, "Keith, remember, the Red Lion is extremely temperamental. You'll have to earn its respect."

Shiro then puts a hand on Keith's shoulder. "All right. Here's our plan of attack."

* * *

3rd person POV

Shiro's voice begins explaining the plan, though we see the paladins going through with the plan. "The Galra Empire knows we have the Blue and Yellow Lions, but they don't know we have the Green Lion, too."

"Hunk, Lance, you'll act as a decoy by pretending to give yourselves up."

Lance sends a message to the Galra ship. "Attention Galra ship. Do not fire. We are surrendering our lions." Lance then mutters to Hunk. "Hope this works."

"While Sendak is distracted, Keith, Pidge, and I will sneak onto the ship in the Green Lion. Keith and I will find the Red Lion while Pidge guards our exit." We see the Green Lion attach to the bottom of the ship and Pidge cutting ale in the ship. "Hunk, Lance, find some way to take down that ion cannon."

We switch back to Hunk and Lance. "Pidge, what's your ETA?" Lance asks worriedly as the front of the ship opens to take the lions. Pidge replies, "We're in."

Sendak says, "Activate tractor beam."

As the tractor beam begins to glow, Hunk's eyes widen. "What's that thing?" He asks. Lance shouts, "I think that's our signal to get out of here!" The two lions dodge the blast just before getting sucked in.

Sendak glares. "They lied to us. Launch fighters!" Several Galra ships fly out of the hanger.

Lance then says. "Hunk, you dismantle the ion cannon while I take these jerks on a space ride!"

"Ten-four!" Hunk replies.

We come back to Keith, Pidge, and Shiro. They are inside the ship, in a long hallway.

As Shiro looks down one hall, several flashes of his time as a prisoner come to him.

He gasps. "I've been here before. After I was taken by the Galra cruiser off Kerberos, they brought us here."

Pidge steps forward, concerned. "So, that means that your other crew members, they might be held captive here." She frowns. "We… We've got to rescue them."

Shiro squeezes his eyes shut. "Pidge, we don't have time. We have to get the Red Lion and get back to Arus."

Pidge glares up at him. "But we can't just leave prisoners here!"

Shiro steps towards her. "Look, no one understands that more than me, but in war, you have to make hard choices. Now, let's get moving." He commands.

As Keith and Shiro turn around to continue walking, Pidge shouts, "No!"

She looks down. "Commander Holt is my father. He and my brother were the ones with you on the Kerberos mission."

Shiro's eyes widen. "Commander Holt is your father?"

"Yes! I've been searching for him and my brother everywhere and I'm not going to give up when I'm so close. I won't!" She turns and begins to walk away.

"I'm coming with you." Shiro says.

Keith looks at Shiro in shock. "What?"

Shiro continues. "I remember where the prisoners are held. Keith, you go find the Red Lion." Keith looks at Shiro nervously. "By myself?"

Shiro puts his hand on Keith's shoulder. "Minor change of plans. You'll be fine. Just remember, patience yields focus."

"So-" Shiro gets cut off by the doors opening down the hall. "Run!" Pidge and Shiro run down one hall, while Keith runs down the other.

Keith runs down the hall until reaching a place where the hall split into different halls. "Great. Now, which way?" He growls. He stares at the Galra symbol, eyes widening. Then he hears footsteps coming from the hall on his left and runs down the hall on his right.

We then go back to Hunk and Lance. Hunk flies directly at the ion cannon and hits a particle barrier, his lion bouncing off. "What the quiznak? What is that? A force field?"

We then go to the castle with Allura, Coran, and Daniella. "Particle barrier up!" Allura calls, and the particle barrier surrounds the castle. It blinks a couple times before disappearing completely.

Coran is pulling on his mustache and Daniella is twirling a lock of her hair in her fingers. "Is that what's supposed to happen?" Both Coran and Daniella ask. Coran and Allura are then staring into the barrier crystal box. Coran gasps. "All the barrier crystals are out of alignment."

Allura pushes Coran out of her way so she can look at them properly. "We have to fix it immediately. Without the particle barrier, we'll be defenseless." She exclaims, looking at Coran. Coran staring at her says, "We're both too big and Daniella's too big too. What can we do?"

The four space mice run into the small space. "The mice!" Allura cries happily.

"How do they know how to do this?" Coran asks. Allura replies, "I can hear them talking to me. I think our minds are connected."

Three of the mice are struggling to push the crystal back into place, then the larger mouse jumps into it shoving it in.

"It must be from sharing the sleep pod for 10,000 years." She tells him.

The particle barrier turns on and the mice celebrate. "Thank you, friends." Allura whispers, smiling brightly.

Coran presses the sides of his head hard, sweating profusely. "Coran, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to get them to make me a sandwich."

We then go back to Keith. He turns several corners before reaching another cross way. "Ugh, you've got to be kidding me!" He complains. Once Keith calms down he whispers, "Patience yields focus." and shuts his eyes. Several flashes of the Red Lion and different hallways appear before Keith opens his eyes. "Gotcha." He turns and runs.

We then go back to Pidge and Shiro.

Pidge and Shiro turn a corner before getting spotted by a security camera robot. Pidge shoots it down and walks over to it. "That thing saw us. We should get out of here." Shiro tells her.

Pidge lifts the robot. "Wait. I think this might come in handy." Pidge opens the side of the robot and messes with the wiring. "Now, I'll just reset the controls…" She trails off, pressing a couple buttons. The robot flies up. "And it's working for us."

Pidge points to the robot. "I'm going to call you "Rover." Follow me!" She says as she follows Shiro down another hallway. They reach a metal door. "Open up." Pidge orders Rover. The security scanner scans Rover and opens the door. "Excellent, Pidge." Shiro says.

Inside the door are several aliens, huddled up together. "Dad?" Pidge calls as she steps inside. Her father was nowhere to be found.

Pidge looks down at her feet in disappointment. Shiro steps forward and says, "Don't be afraid. We're here to help you escape."

One of the aliens lifts their head and says, "It's you… It's you, the Champion. If anyone can get us out of here, he can."

"Wh… What did you call me?" Shiro asks, confused. Pidge looks at the prisoners and then at Rover. "We don't have much time. Let's get to the escape pods." She runs out of the room. "Let's go. Come on!" Shiro urges the aliens.

We come back to Lance and Hunk. "Whoa-ho-ho! Yeah, buddy! This is way more fun without Hunk's barfing!" Lance calls as he flies away from a few Galra ships. Hunk flies the lion at the forcefield again, but it only bounces off. Hunk groans.

Keith reaches the Red Lion.

"Bingo." Keith says, placing his hand on the red forcefield around the lion. "Let's get out of here. Open up."

The lion didn't move. "It's me. Keith. Your buddy." Still nothing. "It's me! Keith, your- I am your paladin!"

Keith hits the forcefield a few times, and suddenly has to duck to avoid getting hit by blast from Galra guards.

Keith pulls out his shield to block the blasts and turns to the lion. "I'm bonding with you! Hey! Come on! We're connected!"

Keith summons his bayard and turns back to the Galra. He runs at them shouting, "You're not getting this lion!" Keith blocks a blow from one guard and pushes them off, then cuts the legs off another.

A blast hits Keith in the chest and he flies backwards.

Keith glances over at the control panel beside him and slams a fist down on a button, opening the airlock.

The remaining guards are sucked out into space. Keith holds on tightly to the control panel, trying to pull himself up.

A piece of debris hits Keith making him lose his grip with his right hand. He is then hit with another piece of debris making him let go of the control panel and float out into space.

As Keith is floating the Red Lion flies out of the ship and catches Keith in its mouth. "Good kitty." Keith says as he sits in the pilot chair. "Let's roll."

We come back to Pidge and Shiro. "Hurry!" Pidge says, leading the prisoners into the escape pod. "Halt!" A galra sentry says, and a group of soldiers runs at them. Pidge gasps.

Shiro's hand begins to glow purple, and he falls to the ground with a groan. Suddenly, he looks up with determination and races at the sentries, blocking blasts with his hand and then hitting them with it, immediately destroying them.

The escape pod closes and leaves with the aliens on board. "Thank you. Shiro." An alien says.

"Wait! How do you…?" Shiro begins to ask, but stops himself as the escape pod flies off. Pidge punches Shiro in his arm lightly. "Shiro, that was amazing! Where did you learn to fight with that?"

Shiro looks down at his hand and clenches his fist. "No idea."

We go back to Hunk, and Lance. Hunk blasts the ion cannon forcefield. "Come on, just break, you stupid thing!" He shouts, continuing to blast the forcefield. Seconds later, it shatters. "Score one for Hunk!"

Hunk flings the lion at the ion cannon and majorly dents the side. The Red and Green Lions fly past Hunk. "You guys made it!"

Pidge smiles brightly. "Kitty Rose has left the stage!"

"Let's get the heck out of here!" Lance says.

"I hope I stopped that cannon. I could barely make a dent in it." Hunk says before flying after the rest of the group.

The Galra gasp. "They stole the Red Lion!" Sendak slams his hands on the control panel. "After them! Either we get those lion or we blow this whole planet to cosmic dust! Fire the ion cannon!"

The soldier turns around. "Sir, the ion cannon has been damaged."

Sendak glares. "Then, send the drones to fix it!"

The Galra ship begin flying towards Arus. Back at the castle, Shiro is standing in the middle of all four lion, as all their eyes begin to glow. Allura clamps her hands together nervously as she waits for the Black Lion to emerge. Daniella starts twirling her thumbs in nervousness as she stands behind Allura with Coran

The Black Lion appears, much larger than the other lions. It roars, and the other lion stand up and roar as well. Allura, Coran, and Daniella cheer, before alarms begin blaring in the castle. "Oh, quiznak!" Coran murmurs.

The Galra ship is flying into the atmosphere, with several fighter ships following it. "Sendak is entering the Arusian atmosphere. We need Voltron now!" Allura calls.

Shiro gets into the black lion and flies it out of the castle, and all the other paladins with their lions follow him.

The lions land in front. The fighter ships are still firing at the particle barrier when a Galra said, "The ion cannon is back online!"

"Fire."

The ion cannon fires at the particle barrier and causes it to practically break immediately. Everyone braced themselves as debris falls everywhere and the ground shakes.

Hunk looks at the ion cannon. "Man, those Galra guys repair things fast!" Coran looks down at a hologram. "The particle barrier gets weaker with every blast! Once that shield goes down, the castle will be defenseless!" Coran warns.

"I can give you cover with the castle defenses for a while, but you have to form Voltron now or we'll all be destroyed!" Allura adds, glaring at the ship.

"Geez, no pressure." Hunk mutters. The ion cannon blasts the castle again, weakening the barrier even more.

"Team Voltron, listen up! The only way to succeed is to give it all you've got! This looks bad, but we can do this! Are you with me?" Shiro calls out.

The team nods. Hunk starts sweating. "Is everyone nodding? I'm nodding." He says.

"Yes." They say in unison. "Let's do this!" Shiro demands, and the lions ran out of the particle barrier. "Uh, how?" Lance asks.

"Good question. Does anyone have any ideas on how to form Voltron?" Keith asks. The Galra keep firing at the particle barrier. "Uh, I don't see a 'combine into a giant robot' button anywhere on my dashboard." Hunk replies.

The lions leap to avoid getting blasted. "This is insane! Can't they cease fire for one minute while we figure this out? Is that too much to ask?" Pidge complains.

Pidge turns her lion around and bites into one fighter ship, throwing it at another. Keith turns around and tail blasts two other ships. "We've got to do something!" Keith growls.

Hunk flings his lion at Keith's. "Combine!" He shouts as the Red Lion rolls across the ground.

Keith groans, "Hey!"

"Okay, that didn't work."

"Quickly paladins! Our energy levels are getting low!" Allura calls, wincing as another blast hits the particle barrier. Shiro frowns worriedly. "Maybe if we fly in formation we'll just combine?" Shiro suggests. "Take off on my cue."

The lions line up on the edge of a cliff. "One, two, three, Voltron!" Shiro shouts as the lions leapt off and flew upward in formation. "Here we go." Keith murmurs. "Come on, come on!" Lance urges the lions.

"Nothing is happening!"

"Wait, I feel something!"

"I do too! I feel it. It's like we're all being pulled in the same direction."

"Uh, guys, I think I know why. Look up." Shiro say, pointing up. In front of them is the Galra ship, and they are all being lifted up by the tractor beam. "What the cheese?" Lance says.

"Sendak's ship is sucking us in like a black hole!" Pidge cries. Sendak stared out at the lions. "Send a report to Emperor Zarkon: The day is ours." He says.

The ion cannon hits the particle barrier one more time and it disappears. "Oh no." Shiro whispers. Hunk starts crying and says, "I don't care what you say, Shiro! I'm panicking now!"

"It can't end here!"

"This is it."

"It's been an honor flying with you boys."

Allura stares at the ship sorrowfully. Shiro grips the sticks harder. "No! We can do this. We have to believe in ourselves. We can't give up. We are the universe's only hope! Everyone is relying on us. We can't fail! We won't fail! If we work together, we'll win together!"

"Yeah!" The team shouts in unison. The lions roar and began to glow their respective colors, before flying out of the tractor beam and forming Voltron.

Voltron then hits a huge dent in the side of the Galra ship, bending the cannon making it miss the castle. Sendak gasped. "Voltron!"

Keith says, "I can't believe it!" He smiles brightly. "We formed Voltron!" Pidge adds.

"I'm a leg!" Hunk shouts.

"How are we doing this?" Lance asks, mouth wide open.

Shiro chuckles. "I don't know, but let's get that cannon!"

Voltron grabs the ion cannon, ripping it off, and throws it into the distance. Keith's arm punches a hole into the ship and blasts it, blowing up the front of the ship.

Hunk kicks a hole into the other side of the ship and Pidge blasts it. They blow up most of the ship, and Sendak abandons the ship. Voltron flies full speed at the ship and flies right through it. The entire ship blows up behind them.

We go to the paladins resting in front of the castle. "Good work, paladins!" Allura exclaims excitedly. Shiro puts a hand on Keith's shoulder.

"Thanks, pretty lady." Lance says.

"We did it." Shiro mutters, smiling softly. Keith pulled off his helmet and says, "Heck yeah, we did."

"How did we do it?" Shiro asks. Hunk pulled off his helmet and says, "I was just like, screaming the whole time. Maybe that did it."

"I think it was the power of friendship." I tell them.

Pidge looks sadly down at her feet, and Shiro put a hand on her shoulder. "We're not going to stop searching until we find your brother and father. Wherever they are, I know they'd be proud of you." He tells her.

Allura clasps her hands together again. "We won the battle, but the war has only just begun. I'm afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these lions."

Coran interrupts, "Good thing you paladins know what you're doing, because you're going to have to form Voltron again and again."

"Totally...wait, what?" Hunk asks, frowning. Lance frowns too. "We barely survived forming Voltron this one time!" He exclaims. Coran nods and says, "And that was only one ship. Wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them!"

"It's not going to be easy being the Defenders of the Universe." Coran says.

Everyone stares in shock. Shiro blinks before replying, "Defenders of the Universe, huh? Has a nice ring to it."

The team turns around and stared up at the lions.


	5. Some Assembly Required

Daniella's POV

I woke up real early and decided to find Coran and/or Allura. I found them in command going over some of the systems making sure that they work properly. I told them both a good morning, then ask Coran, "Hey. Is there a way to make a paladin armor purple so that while I can't fly a lion I can still go down on planets and help fight or so that I can at least have a suit?"

"Sure. I can make it, but it might take me a quintant or two to make it with us getting the castle ready." Coran replies.

"That's ok. Need any help?" I ask them. Then Coran asks me, "Just asking but why purple? For your suit why that color?"

"It's… It's personal." I say as one of my hands goes to grasp two of the three necklaces I wear on a daily basis. The necklace that I am not clutching is my gold rose necklace. The two that I am clutching are both half hearts that fit together, one is pink and is the left side, and the other is blue and is the right side.

I'm looking down as I hear Coran say, "You don't have to answer me! I mean that." Since I was looking down I didn't see the sad look of understanding in Coran's eyes. "If you want, you can help us for a bit." Coran tells me.

"Ok. What can I do to help?" I ask. Coran and Allura then tell me how to help them. About an hour or two later we decide to wake up the paladins by testing them and the alarm system together. Coran I see has a meat thermometer, so I use my watch to time them instead as Allura turns on the alarm.

Allura speaks into a loudspeaker, "Everybody up! Zarkon's attacking! The Castle is about to be destroyed! Go, go, go! We need Voltron now! Come on! We can't survive much longer!"

Coran then says to Allura, "You've got to sell it a little bit more." He takes the recording device from her and clears his throat. "Oh, no! Allura's dead! Aw, it's horrible! Her head fell off!" Coran falls to the ground. "Wait, what? Her severed head is trying to speak to me! What is it, Allura's head? What are your final words?" He finishes saying as Keith, Takashi, Pidge, and Hunk run in. I'm trying not to laugh at what Coran's doing even as I stop my timer at two minutes and eight seconds.

"Coran." Allura says.

"Oh yes, Princess, I'm listening." Coran replies. As he says this I am unable to stop myself from starting to giggle.

"It's over." Allura deadpans. "Oh, I know! If only Voltron had been formed." He cries dramatically. As he looks over and sees all the paladins, except for Lance. He throws the device. I start laughing as he says, "Oh! Time!"

"I guess this isn't an actual attack." Shiro says. I then stop laughing as I watch Allura glare at Shiro. "And it's a good thing it wasn't because it took you… Coran?" She looks over at him. He looks down at the device in his hand and says, "Seventy-five degrees. Oh, sorry. No, this is a meat thermometer."

"Yeah it is," I say, "That is why I timed it as well, though I timed it cause I like timing things. You guys took two minute and eight seconds to get here."

Allura then growls, "Well, it was still too long. You must always be ready to do battle with Zarkon. Look at you! Only Shiro is in uniform. Keith, Pidge, Hunk, where are your bayards? And where is Lance?"

Then as if on cue, Lance walks in, in a robe, wearing blue lion slippers, holding a drink, and his face is shining. "Good morning, everybody. What's going on?"

Allura ignores him and continues talking to the group. "Coran and I have been up for hours getting the Castle back in order. Daniella has also been helping us for about two hours. We had to run a test on the alarms, and we decided to test you as well. Guess which one failed."

"Hey!" Hunk yawns, "You got to sleep for 10,000 years, man. Monday night, I was on Earth. Now, I've flown through space, fought some evil alien named Zarkon, eaten goo in some weird castle. That's a lot to process in, uh… I don't know. What day is today?"

"It's the third quintant of the Spicolian movement. Hump Day!" Coran exclaims.

"Wednesday then." I say.

Hunk frowns. "It's a lot to process."

Allura summons a hologram keyboard. "You must understand the stakes of our mission. Over the last 10,000 years, the Castle picked up distress beacons from the following locations." A giant map appears of different distress signals.

"So, we have to assume that Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe." Allura apina the map to a place where there are less distress beacons. "Earth is here. An attack on your planet is inevitable."

"Oh, no." Hunk whispers.

"Exactly. Our mission is to free all those planets. Coran and I are getting the Castle ready to leave Arus. During that time, you have to learn to form Voltron, so we can begin fighting Zarkon."

Shiro looks down. "The Princess is right. Let's get to our lions and start training." He says, beginning to turn around.

Pidge stops him. "Wait. But I want to talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship."

"Uh. Negative, Number Six. I have you ranked by height." Coran says, bending over to look Pidge in the eye. "The prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenisher until tomorrow."

"That's right. Now, get to your lions." Allura tells them.

I watch as they all get into their elevators that will take them to their lions. After they all left in their elevators I ask Coran and Allura, "Is there a training deck cause I'm not that good with tech and I don't want to fall behind on my exercise routine?"

"Yeah, there is a training deck. I'll take you to it. But are you sure you can train? You don't have a bayard or any weapons that I can see." Allura replies.

I reach both hands into both of my boots and pull out two knives. "How's this for weapons?" Allura and Coran look surprised as they stare at my goblin made knives. I then also say, "I also have dual-swords in my bag in my room."

"Ok. I see you are well equipped to train then. I'll show you to the training deck now." Allura says as she starts to walk away. I follow her to the training deck and she tells me how it works and how to do basic things with it. She also shows me a room near by for regular exercising. After she leaves I go to my room to get my dual-swords. I then go to the training deck and start small with my warm up exercise before I start on the bots first with my knives then with my swords.

I had just finished level two and was starting to do my cool down stretches when everyone else walked into the training deck. "Hey guys. You here to train on the deck? What happened to forming Voltron?" I ask.

"We were unable to form Voltron so Allura and Coran suggested we bond by training on the training deck together." Keith replies.

I then say, "Not a bad idea, but there are other ways to bond and more effective at times too."

"Are you done training on the deck now?" Allura asks me.

"Yeah," I reply, "Just doing my cool down stretches. Want me to go?"

"That would be nice for now, as you don't have your paladin armor yet. You can watch from the control room up there." Allura says to me. "Coran and I will be up there as well to watch." I shrug and follow her and Coran up to the control center for the training deck to watch as the training commences.

""Two, two, one, two." Coran tests the mic. "Okay, listen up, guys. The paladin code demands you put your team members' safety above your own. A swarm of drones is about to attack."

The drones fly out and start circling the paladins. "It's up to each of you to do everything you can to protect the other members of your team." I watch as the paladins form shields from their wrists.

"Wait, wait, wait. What's going on?" Hunk asks, and then gasps as a shield forms from his wrist. "Whoa. Did you guys get one of these?"

The drones begin shooting and instead of lifting his shield, Hunk ducks and Pidge gets hit instead. She grunts and falls through a hole in the floor.

"Protect your teammates or no one will be there to protect you!" Coran calls to them.

Hunk gets shot in the back by a drone and falls through the floor as well.

I watch as Lance, Keith, and Takashi back up until they are back to back. "Time to increase intensity." The drones begin shooting much faster than before.

I hear Lance over the coms say, "You keeping up over there, Keith?"

"Just concentrate on keeping me safe." I hear Keith reply to him.

Lance scoffs. "Me? I own this drill. You're the one who needs to concentrate."

I watch as the drones go low and begin shooting at their legs, so Keith and Takashi kneel, but Lance is too distracted to notice.

Lance then lifts his foot to avoid getting hit and Keith gets hit instead. Keith falls through the floor with a scream.

Lance somehow manages to keep a couple blasts off him and Takashi before he gets hit in the back and falls through the floor as well. Takashi then immediately gets blasted and falls too.

Coran groans and hides his face in one of his hands. I face palm at what happened.

We then go to the invisible maze. Lance is in it and Keith is up here to guide him through it. "To form Voltron, you must trust in each other. This ancient paladin maze will teach you that trust. Your teammate can see the walls, but you cannot. So, listen carefully. If you touch the walls, you'll get a slight shock."

I see Lance put on his helmet. "Wait. Who's guiding me through?" Lance asks.

"Take two steps forward." I hear Keith tell him.

Lance pouts as he says, "Oh, no. Not Keith. Why does he get to be the man on the mic?"

"Now, just sit tight. You'll get your turn." Coran replies.

Keith repeats himself. "Like I said, take two steps forward, turn right, and take three steps in that direction."

I think Lance starts muttering something under his breath as I watch him turn right. He gets shocked immediately and screams. "You did that on purpose!"

"You're not listening!" Keith says.

"You said to turn right!" Lance retorts.

"But before that, I said take two steps forward." Keith replies

Lance sighs. "Take two steps-" He gets shocked again because he walked in the wrong direction. "We're switching place right now!"

They then get pulled into a flying training exercise. I decided that I had taken a long enough break watching them train. So I stretched and decide to run around the castle since they didn't have a treadmill or elliptical to run on.

As I run I end up back at the training deck and I saw that they were back and doing a different exercise this time and decided to go to the control room to watch while doing my cool down stretches.

"Now the most important part of paladin training is being able to meld your minds and focus on one thing: Voltron." Coran says. I see that the paladins are sitting in a circle with weird bands around their heads. "Everything else has to fade away. This technique will be essential every time you form Voltron. So, relax and open your mind. No walls, no secrets between paladins. Come on, everyone, clear everything. Now, focus on forming your lion."

I see that Keith is thinking about the shack, Lance is thinking about his family, Hunk is thinking about food, Takashi is thinking about the Kerberos launch, and Pidge is thinking of her and her brother.

I see that Takashi forms his lion first, then the others, except for Pidge. "Bring your lions together and form Voltron. Keep your minds open, work together. Good! Keep focusing, only one to go!" Coran urges.

As Pidge continues to struggle, Keith opens his eyes and says, "Pidge, stop thinking of your girlfriend!"

"I wasn't! Hunk was rooting around in my head!" Pidge accuses. Hunk opens his eyes and says, "I thought we were open. You can look in my head hole."

"Everyone has to be able to look in everyone's head holes! Clear your minds!" Coran exclaims, frustrated.

They manage to all form their lions with Coran voicing encouragement. They are able to form their lions and put together Voltron, until Pidge's mind strays again to Matt and her.

"Pidge!" Lance complains. Pidge then stands up with a growl throwing the device on the ground. "I'm done with this! Look, I don't like everyone grubbing around in my head!"

"Oh, come on, Pidge, we're starting to get the hang of this." Shiro says to her.

Pidge looks at him and says softly, "I'm just… I'm just tired, okay?"

"Okay. Let's take a break." Shiro says to everyone. As they all sit on the floor, Coran and I pass each of them a water packet. "You have been working hard, maybe it's time to relax a little." Coran says.

Allura then walks in with a frown on her face. "What are you doing lying around? You're supposed to be training!"

"Just resting a bit. You know, you can't push too hard." Coran explains.

"What do you mean "can't push too hard"? Get up, you lazy lumps! It's time you faced the Gladiator!" She exclaims.

"Hold up! You are going to let them sit there for a few minutes to let them finish their water packets because we wouldn't want them to pass out from dehydration during training." I tell Allura making her wait a few more minutes before subjecting them to the Gladiator.

I'm back in the control room with Coran and Allura as we look at the paladins in full armor, holding their weapons. "In order to defeat the Gladiator, five paladins must fight as one." Coran says.

In the middle of the room, the Gladiator drops from a hole in the ceiling. Hunk starts firing his weapon at it wildly.

A blast nearly hits Keith, but he manages to put up his shield in time.

The Gladiator then knocks Hunk down and electrocutes him.

Pidge then runs at the Gladiator, hitting its weapon with her own. The Gladiator hits her in the side a couple times before hitting her straight in the face and tossing her across the room to bounce off Hunk.

Lance starts shooting at the Gladiator, but misses each time. The Gladiator hits his arm, and knocks him back. It continues swinging at him until it knocks his weapon out of his hands.

It then hits Lance over the head, Keith then swings his sword into the Gladiators back, only for the Gladiator to turn around and hit him in the chest. The Gladiator turns back around to Lance to hit him in the head again. It then hits him in the stomach and lifts him . It swings him around to knock him into Keith.

Takashi then activates his robot hand as the Gladiator races towards him only for me to watch him freeze up.

Keith jumps in front of Takashi and blocks the blow of the Gladiator. Keith continues to hold back the Gladiator. "Shiro, are you okay?" He chokes out.

The Gladiator then knocks Keith's legs out from under him and hits him in the chest, sending him crashing into Takashi. They both fall to the ground.

The Gladiator then turns off and falls over. Allura walks over to them with a glare. "That combat simulator was set at a level fit for an Altean child! You're not even close to working as a team, let alone ready to face Zarkon!" She insults them angrily. As she says that though I get angry because I don't believe that, that Gladiator was set for an Altean child for a teen maybe and she is being mean to my boyfriend, his brother, and the other paladins.

We soon go to the dining hall for dinner. The order we are sitting is on one side of the table is Pidge, Keith, Lance, Hunk, then Shiro. Allura is going to sit at the head of the table. I decide to sit at the other end of the table. Coran is standing by where Allura is going to sit.

"Ahoy, young Paladin! I've whipped up a big batch of focusing food. After this meal, you'll be forming Voltron six times a movement and twice on the astral conflux!" Coran says happily.

I see Takashi smile respectfully at Coran. "Smells great, Coran. Thanks." He says, just before picking up a fork.

I then see Coran point a device at them and press a button on it. Handcuffs form, tying their hands to each others'.

"Hold the phone!" Lance says, looking at Keith and his hands.

Coran is smiling devilishly. "I saw a lot of solid individual performances today, but you're still struggling to work as a team. So, welcome to the final bonding exercise of the day."

Hunk pulls his hand away from Lance, attempting to get out. Lance and Hunk both grunt. Lance then glares at Hunk. Hunk then turns to Coran glaring at him, and says, "Coran, I want you to think about what you're doing."

"This one's a classic. You get to feed each other, like a pack of yalmors!" Coran laughs.

They all groan and glare at each other as I start eating. And as I start eating some of the goo, it doesn't take me long to realize that the goo seems vegetarian in nature. Which means that I will need to find a way to supplement my diet with more meat because both Nekos and Galra are either carnivores or omnivores that tilt towards carnivore. We can eat vegetables and fruits and even need some but to just eat vegetables or fruits is bad for us.

Just as I'm taking my third bite of the goo I see Hunk attempt to push a spoon into his mouth only to accidentally punch himself in the face because Lance moved. "Ow!" He complains, glaring at Lance. Lance glances over apologetically. "Sorry."

Hunk moves the spoon to his mouth again but ends up biting Lance's hand. "Ew!" Lance cries pulling his hand back.

Lance pulls his hand over to Hunk quickly and pulls his other hand too, pulling Keith's hand into Lance's food goo.

"Oh, nice. You deviled my food goo!" Lance growls.

"It's your fault!" Keith says, defending himself. "This is ridiculous."

Allura sitting at the head of the table, growls as food goo goes flying in her direction. "Do Earthlings ever stop complaining?"

I then see Takashi raise his eyebrows and say, "Can't you just give us a break? Everyone's been working really hard today."

As Keith stands up I decide that now is the time to get out of firing range as I believe a fight is going to take place soon. "Yeah! We're not some prisoners for you to toy with, like… like…" Keith says struggling to find a word.

"Like a bunch of toy prisoner!" Lance finishes. As soon as he finishes saying that I get away from the table and towards the doors to watch but to get out of range as fast as possible without them noticing.

"Yes! Thank you, Lance!" Keith says as he looks down at him. Coran leans forward with a glare. "You do not yell at the Princess!" He shouts.

I see Pidge roll her eyes and say, "Oh, the princess of what? We're the only ones out here and she's no princess of ours!"

Allura flings a spoonful of food goo at Pidge. Keith glares at her and shouts, "Go loose, Pidge!" before throwing a plate of food goo across the table at Allura. Allura screams just before Coran blocks it with his towel and flings a much larger spoonful of food goo at everyone else.

I see Hunk shakes the food goo off. "Oh, it's on now." He shoves his face into his food goo and then pulls Takashi and Lance's hands with him as he pushes on his cheeks, spitting food goo at Allura and Coran. I have luckily taken refuge over by the door and can watch how this turns out without getting into the food fight. I hate getting into food fights.

I then see Coran and Allura begin flinging food goo across the table at everyone else. Keith gets hit in the face, and Pidge blocks some with her hand. Lance and Hunk work together to fling a plateful across. Pidge and Keith then do the same. Coran blocks some food goo meant for Allura. Hunk then spits more food goo. It's not long before everyone but me is covered.

Allura sits down, exhausted. The Paladins look at each other and start laughing. I'm giggling at how they look while watch by the door. "Enough! Do you see what you're doing?" Allura shouts, startling the rest of us. She lifts her head and smiles. "You're finally working together as one!"

Keith glances at Lance, smiling. "Hey, she's right!"

Lance nods. "I actually don't hate you right now." At this I get slightly irritated.

Hunk smiles brightly. "You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Hunk asks.

I then see Takashi raise his fist and say, "Let's go form Voltron!"

"Yeah!" They all agree.

Hunk then frowns and says. "Actually, I was thinking dessert. But, yeah! Let's do it!" They all turn to go a different direction and fall on top of each other. They all then start going to their lions after the cuffs are off them.

After they form Voltron Allura, Coran and I are looking up at them. "I told you I could get them to do it. They just needed a common enemy." Allura says to Coran. So I then think So that's why she did what she did.

Coran nods. "It's true. Like the old proverb says, 'A man can be driven to do anything, if a beautiful woman is just really, really mean to him.'" Allura sighs.

The Paladins and I are now in the Lounge on the couch. "Man, that was cool!" Lance says excitedly. "I'm so charged up, I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep tonight."

Keith smiles. "Not me. When my head hits the pillow, I'm going to be lights out."

Hunk then slides in between Lance and Keith. "I just want you to know that I realized when we were in Voltron, we're brothers, man." Hunk says, pulling Lance and Keith into one-sided hugs against him. "You know? Like, we're totally connected. No secrets, no barriers, no nothing. Brothers all the way."

I then see Takashi put a hand on Pidge's shoulder, and Pidge then pats the mice next to her.

"I love you guys." Hunk says to us, smiling. Keith and I smile back. "G-forces mess with your head a little?" Keith asks.

Hunk thinks for a moment. "Maybe a little. I don't know. It's been a tough few days." He lets go of the two. Keith climbs over the back of the couch and leaves the room. Takashi then stands up to leave, Hunk and Lance following. "Going to bed, Pidge, Daniella?" He asks.

"In a minute." Pidge replies. I then say, "I'm on my way to my room now." as I climb over the couch to leave. I see Takashi smile softly. "Good work today. We're really coming together." He says before leaving the room. Pidge smiles back at him. As I leave the room I notice from the corner of my eye Pidge's smile drops as she pulls out a photograph. I hope she's ok.

After I entered my room I go to my backpack that I was carrying when we got blasted out into space. I grab my shrunk trunk from it and put it on the floor by the wall and unshrink it. I then open it up by unlocking it by saying the password. "Iris-flower." Before I open it up though I make it so that my familiar can't open the room door and escape to explore the castle. After that I go and open it up. I then go inside it. It's a nine compartment housing trunk. It has a kitchen, a bathroom, a master bedroom, a guest bedroom, a study, a library, a living room, my familiar's room, and a pantry. I enter the living room and as I do my familiar Eve runs up to me and starts rubbing on my legs. "You hungry girl is that it?" I ask her as I head to the kitchen to feed her before going to the master bedroom to sleep.


	6. Finding out

Daniella's POV

After the rough start here in the castle we have had a good time here. I was in my trunk with my familiar while the others are training with each other with their lions. I was going out of my trunk when I realized Eve was starting to run out of the room. I had forgotten to lock the door! I froze for a second before running out of the room to see that Eve had disappeared down one of the hallways. I felt panic creep up in me as I didn't want the others to know about Eve because they didn't know about magic and I really didn't want to tell them… yet. But I know I need to be calm as I look for her though I can't help but worry that she will end up chasing the mice. While I was looking for her the others finished their training with the lions and came to the bridge were I ended up while looking for her.

"Hey guys. How was training?" I ask them after I entered the bridge.

"Pretty good." Keith answers. After I walk over to him he whispers in my ear, "What's wrong?"

I whisper back, "Eve got loose. She's in the castle somewhere. Can you help me find her?" Just after I say that to him the mice come scrambling into the bridge with Eve, my white and black cat, hot on their trail. Everyone gasps in surprise.

"Eve! What are you doing? You are not allowed to eat those mice!" I yell as the mice start to climb up Allura. Eve then stops to start looking at me, then she walks over to me and rubs herself on my legs.

"That cat is yours? How did you get it on the castle?" Pidge asks me loudly as the others look at me in surprise.

"I'm just that good at hiding things." I reply as I then pick Eve up, put her on my shoulders, and walk out of the bridge. I then walk to Keith's room to hide from their questions. A few minutes later Keith comes into the room. I can tell he's not surprised to see me there.

"You know your going to have to tell them soon right?" Keith asks.

"I know I'll have to tell them something. But how much?" I reply.

"Just tell them the basics." Keith tells me.

"Ok. Later not now." I say as I just lay down on his bed. Keith sighs and lays down next to me spooning me against him.

* * *

Allura's POV

As Dani and her cat, Eve leave the bridge I notice that they have a bond or connection similar to the one I have with the mice.

"Can someone tell me what the hell just happened?!" Lance exclaims. As Lance says that I see Keith slip out of the bridge.

"I have no idea what that was." Pidge says. "Hey! Where's Keith?" Pidge then asks.

"He slipped out while Lance was talking." I tell them.

"Does this mean that Keith knew about the cat?" Shiro asks in confusion.

"Maybe," I say, "I am going to go and talk to Dani about Eve? That's the cat's name right?"

"I think so." Hunk replies. I than walk out of the bridge and to Dani's room. When I get there I knock on her door. No answer, I then open the door and walk in the room. Dani isn't in the room but there is a trunk in the room. I wonder how she got that on the ship because Pidge and her came on with only a backpack and the others only had what they had on them. I then go over to the trunk and try to open it. When I try to open it I get a slight shock. I then decided that I need to call everyone to the bridge so that we can talk to Dani about what she is hiding.

After I went back to the bridge I call for everyone to come to the bridge for a meeting.

* * *

Daniella's POV

"Everyone come to the bridge for a meeting." Allura says over the loudspeaker. Keith and I look at each other then we get up and start going to the bridge. As we left Keith's room Eve jumps onto my shoulders. It didn't take long before we all are in the bridge.

"When I went to Dani's room I found a trunk." Allura says to all of us. "Dani can you answer how there is a trunk in your room when you came aboard with just a backpack and the clothes on your back?"

"Umm… Well… It's kind of difficult to explain." I tell them.

Takashi then looks at me and says, "Just start from the beginning. Take your time."

"Well. Allura you can make wormholes but Coran can't right?" I ask Allura.

Allura responds with, "I can make wormholes because I am a noble Altean while Coran is not. Noble Alteans are different as we can do things other Alteans can't."

"Well Humans have something similar." After I say this I can see surprise show on everyone's but Keith's faces. Before they can ask anything I say, "We are born being able to do what I can do."

Pidge then asks, "What can you do?"

"Magic." I reply.

"Magic?!" Takashi, Pidge and Lance exclaim, while Hunk gapes at me. Allura and Coran just look confused.

"Yes, magic. We call ourselves Witches and Wizards." I tell them.

"Really!? Witches and Wizard?" Pidge responds skeptically.

"Yes, I'm a witch" I tell them.

"So how can one become a witch or wizard?" Pidge asks curiously.

"You can't become a witch or wizard. You just are," I tell them, "You have to be born with it, you can't just get it. Most people who have magic have at least one parent or ancestor who has or had magic. My Mom's a witch and one of my dad's ancestors was a witch."

"Why don't the others from your planet know about magic?" Allura asks

"Because of the witch hunts over the years where those with magic were hunted by those without. Witches and Wizard hide themselves from view. Only those with magic, have a child with magic, or are married to people with magic really know." I tell them

"What is the cat to you?" Allura asks me, "I can sense that you have a type of bond with each other but I can't tell what."

"Eve is her familiar." Keith then blurts out. I then exclaim, "Keith!"

Takashi then looks at Keith and asks, "Keith? You knew about her being a witch?"

"Uh.. Yeah. She told me that when she reached her majority for witches and wizards." Keith says.

Hunk looks at me confused and curious. "What is a witches majority?" He asks.

"A witch or wizard reaches their majority at seventeen years old." I tell them.

"WHAT? You were technically an adult at seventeen!?" Lance exclaims.

"Well that is when our magic settles so yes. But aren't I technically an adult anyway now? I'm eighteen after all." I say.

"Yeah." Takashi replies.

Pidge then asks, "Well what can you do with magic?"

"I can do a lot, but there are many different types of magic and I only know so much. I am still young after all." I tell Pidge.

"Can you change your shape?" Pidge asks.

"Depends on what you mean. If you mean if we can change into animals some of us can, any witch or wizard can learn to do that. If you mean change our appearance you either have to be born with the gift to transform your features to your will or take a potion or glamour to temporary change or hide features." I respond.

"Can you change into an animal? If so what animal?" Pidge asks.

"Yes, I can change into an animal though witches and wizards who can are called animagus." I tell her.

"Can you show us?" Lance asks excitedly.

"Fine." I say. I then transform into my animagus form.

"Your a Box Turtle!" Pidge exclaims as I turn back to my natural form.

I spend the next hour or two answering their questions though I reserved the right to not answer if I didn't like the question. I don't tell them that I'm not technically human. Because witches and wizards are still humans they just have extra powers, but I'm not a human, I'm a neko.


	7. Return of the Gladiator

Daniella's POV

I was in the dining room exercising my magic by levitating a bunch of transfigured plates in the air around the room. While I now trained with the paladins on the deck now that I had my armor I still couldn't go out for flying training because they're for flying the lions and Voltron.

I then hear as some of the paladins walk in Takashi say, "Great job training today, guys. We're really getting the hang of Voltron."

"Seriously, how far do you think my lion kicked that broken alien ship?" Lance asks us excitedly, "Must of been like a mile!"

I turn to see Keith turn to glare at Lance, "Yeah, that'll come in handy when the Galra challenges Voltron to a soccer match."

Lance then crosses his arms and says, "Hey, I did something cool and you can't handle it. I get it."

I can see Keith rolling his eyes at Lance. "Your kick ruined our balance. We fell."

"That falling part was Hunk's fault." Lance says, but Keith had already started walking toward the table. I wonder if Lance said what he said to pass blame or to defend himself.

"Hey!" Hunk interjects as he sits at the table.

Takashi then walks over to the table to sit down. "All right, save your energy for fighting Zarkon." As he looks over to me Keith asks me, "Hey Dani. Whatcha doin?"

As Lance looks at Keith a little weird I reply with, "Exercising my magic. After all magic is a part of me but it's like a muscle I have to work at it and keep it healthy."

Keith and Lance are walking over to the table to sit when Coran walks in holding a tray, I can't really smell it but there is a faint smell of something bad on Coran.

Coran as he walks in says, "Hello, guys! How was the Voltron workout?"

"We're getting there. Are you and Allura almost done fixing the Castle so we can leave this planet?" Takashi asks Coran. "I feel like we're sitting ducks here on Arus."

Coran sets the tray down. "Just about. In the meantime, to get your minds off those duck seats you're worried about, I made you guys an authentic ancient paladin lunch!"

Hunk then gasps and starts drooling, waiting to see the dish.

Coran lifts the top of the tray off, revealing a gross looking green circle with yellow things coming out of it. I immediately put a hand over my mouth and nose as the terrible stench of it assaults me. All of us here except Coran shrink back, looking grossed out by the meal.

Hunk sighs and says, "Coran, you just got me hooked on that goo and now you're switching it up?"

"This is packed with nutrients." Coran replies.

Hunk leans forward to smell the food. I see him wrinkle his nose and say, "Oh, it smells disgusting!" Coran then also leans forward and takes a sniff. "I know! That's how you know it's healthy!"

"Coran, we're on a planet now with fresh herbs, spices, and whatever this thing is." Hunk says pulling out said herbs and spices from his pocket. "A tuber? If you'll excuse me, I'm going to head back to the kitchen and spice things up." Hunk then leaves the room to I assume the kitchen. Keith and Lance then come and sit at the end of the table by me. They still seem to be grossed out as I still am.

Takashi then looks at Coran and asks, "Where's Pidge?"

Coran is eating the gross thing when he replies with, "He's probably checking on those prisoners we rescued from Zarkon. They'll all be waking soon in the infirmary."

Takashi then stands up to leave the room I think only for Coran to stop him by shoving the gross 'paladin lunch' in his face. "Open the hatch. Food lion coming in!" Coran then begins making a whirring noise like an airplane.

Takashi then inches away. "No. Just… no." He then swiftly leaves the room.

"You don't know what you're missing!" Coran calls after him.

I wonder if I should share some of my food from my farming trunk that I have stored in my main trunk when Hunk slides several Earth looking foods across the table. I watch as Keith and Lance devour it. I can see Hunk looking proud of the food he has made.

I see Allura walk to Coran smiling. "They like the paladin lunch!"

Coran is glaring at the others. "I don't want to talk about it."

Allura ignores him and continues. "I just got the final nebulon booster working. We should be able to leave Planet Arus tomorrow and take the fight to Zarkon." Just as she finishes speaking, an alarm blares. Lance is sucking the last of his noodles and stands up. Allura turns a screen on to see the issue. There is a clip of a small, harmless looking alien running towards the castle.

"What is that?" Keith demands.

Allura then responds with, "I don't know what it is. Maybe it's a local Arusian. He's approaching the Castle."

"Aw!" Hunk cries. Lance shrugs and says, "Doesn't look too dangerous."

Keith is glaring at the screen while I am analyzing the Arusian. "You never know." Keith says as he pulls out his bayard. I say a second after him, "Just cause something looks harmless doesn't mean it is."

Allura then interrupts us saying, "No. Alteans believe in peace first. Let's go welcome them." She then turns and walks out. I watch as Hunk and Lance follow eagerly.

"That's adorable." Hunk says.

"Hey, maybe we can knit him a little sweater!" Lance wonders.

Keith holds his bayard tightly. "I'm not taking any chances." I then follow Keith and tell him, "I wouldn't take chances either. I know of many creatures on earth who look harmless but can hurt you pretty badly in a pinch."

The Castle doors opening startle the Arusian into taking shelter in a bush. We approach and I watch as Allura bends down to look through the bushes leaves.

"Greetings. We know you're there." She says kindly. "No harm will come to you."

The Arusian then jumps out with a battle cry, pointing its sword at Allura. "Aw!" Hunk squeaks out.

Keith stands protectively in front of Allura with me right behind him. "Wait! He could be dangerous. Drop your weapon." Keith tells the Arusian. I can't blame him though.

The Arusian then points his weapon at Keith. "No one takes Klaizap's weapon!"

Allura steps forward. "Keith, put that away! Please, kind sir, accept my most humble apologies." She speaks sincerely, and Keith puts his bayard away.

Klaizap blinks and then states, "I am Klaizap, bravest of our warriors. Our village is over Gazrel hill. I come seeking answers as to why the Lion Goddess is angered with her followers."

"Followers?" Coran asks.

"Lion goddess?" Hunk questions.

Klaizap points to a carved rock with a picture of the Lion Goddess and the Arusians bowing to her. "The one the ancients spoke of." He explains.

Allura smiles softly. "What makes you think she's angered?"

Klaizap leans forward. "Destruction is everywhere. In the past few suns, fire has rained from the heavens and a giant has danced in the sky." Klaizap explained while making gestures.

Hunk turns to whisper to Lance, "I think he's talking about Voltron."

"Yeah, I got that." Lance replies.

Allura smiles again. "You have not angered the Lion Goddess."

Klaizap frowns. "How can you be certain?"

Allura clamps her hands together. "Because I am Allura and this is my castle."

Klaizap gasps and bows. "Lion Goddess!"

Allura continues, "Please, bravest warrior, take us to your village so that we may meet our neighbors."

Keith turns to Allura. "What about our mission to get off this planet and fight Zarkon?"

Allura replies with, "Part of the paladins' mission is to spread peace and diplomacy. Arus has been our host for 10,000 years. These people deserve our thanks."

We ride the Red, Blue, and Yellow lions to the cliffside by the Arusian village. Festive music plays in the village as the Arusians meet all of us.

What I believe to be the leader of the village steps forward. "Oh, Lion Goddess, I, King of the Arusians, formally beg for your forgiveness. Please have mercy on us and accept our traditional Dance of Apology as atonement for our wrongdoings." The King then steps back to let a dancer come forward. "Commence Dance of Apology!"

Some Arusians begin playing music while the one was dancing. Spinning and making hand gestures. Allura puts her hand up. "Please, there's no need for this."

"Moontow, halt!" The King shouts, and the dancer stops immediately. "The Goddess has refused the apology. Start the sacrificial fire!"

An Arusian throws a torch onto a pile of wood. "We must throw ourselves in!" The King says.

Allura gasps, and shakes her head wildly. "No! No sacrifices!"

The King turns around. "So we may proceed with the dance?"

Allura nods. "That's a better alternative."

The dancer continues the dance, and bows at the end, all the other Arusians following suit. "Oh, my!" Allura exclaims. "Please, please, rise. Thank you for that, but I am not a great being worthy of your worship."

The Arusians stand up, confused.

"I accidentally put you all in danger. It is I who should be apologizing to you. I am Princess Allura, and these are the Voltron paladins." Allura gestures to Hunk, Keith, Lance, and I. "Although we originally came from different worlds...and have very, very, very different traditions...we wish to live alongside you as friends." Allura finishes her speech.

The King points to the sky. "But the mighty robotic angel...has it not come to destroy us because of our immoral ways?"

Allura frowns. "Voltron? No. In fact, that mighty robot is here to protect you. Let it be known that Voltron will protect every innocent being throughout the universe!" Allura says, and bents down to hug all the cheering Arusians.

Arusians cling to Hunk, Lance, Coran, and Allura. Keith and I walk away, feeling uneasy. An Arusian jumped on Keith from the side, startling him. One then jumps on me.

"Uh, well I don't usually hug strangers, but, uh… Man, you are cuddly." Keith says as he raises a hand and puts it on the arusian's back. "Thank you." The Arusian says in a deep voice. I see Keith's eyes go wide. I then look at the one who jump on me and say, "Umm. I'm sorry but could you get off me? I don't really like it when strangers hug me all of a sudden." The Arusian then says in a soft voice, "I'm sorry." I then tell them, "It's ok."

We then spend some time relaxing in the village.

I then hear over the coms Takashi say, "Team, come in. We need backup! Hello?"

"Shiro?" I hear Allura ask.

"Where is everyone?" Takashi demands.

"What's going on?" Keith asks, worried.

The ground begins to shake as the ship in the atmosphere came closer. The Arusians cry out in fear. "Oh, no. We gotta get to our lions!" Keith calls. The Arusians begin running and Allura shouts, "Everyone get inside and stay down!"

Hunk says, "I'm on it!" as he runs away with the Arusians. Keith then pulls Hunk away before I could get to him. "Not you!" He growls in frustration.

I wished that I could help more in that moment but I knew protecting the Arusians was what I had to do at that moment as the other left in their lions to help Pidge and Takashi.

We had gotten all the Arusians into a cave huddled together. Coran and Allura are standing with them trying to comfort them as sounds of heavy footsteps got closer. As the footsteps got closer I called on my magic to make a magical shield around all the Arusians and us. I then hear a sound of something getting knocked down and I can tell it almost hits the village. I keep the shield up though just incase, even as I hear the fighting getting farther away.

After they beat the monster we go back to the Castle. We ready a pod so that the prisoners we rescued from Zarkon could go to their families. The aliens are boarding the ship. "Good luck out there." Lance says to them, waving.

"Thank you all for everything. We never dreamed we'd see our families again. But you gave us hope. You gave the universe hope." One of the aliens say. The ship then left. At this point my magical exhaustion from keeping the shield up even if nothing hit it catches up with me as I feel myself start to collapse.

"Dani!"

"What's wrong?"

"Daniella!"

"What's happening!"

"Dani-kitten! Are you ok? Answer me!"

I can't tell who's saying what, as I feel two sets of arms wrap themselves around me as I fall and drift into unconscious.


	8. Fall of the Castle of Lions

Keith's POV

"Dani!" Allura exclaims.

"What's wrong?" Hunk asks.

"Daniella!" Coran exclaims worriedly.

"What's happening!" Lance asks as he rushes forward to catch her.

"Dani-kitten! Are you ok? Answer me!" I yell in a panic, as I rush to catch her.

Lance and I wrap our arms around Dani as she falls, catching her.

"What happen? Is Dani going to be ok?" Lance asks as we gently lay her down on the floor.

"Did she us any magic today? If so how much, how fast?" I ask Allura and Coran.

"She made a shield around us shortly before you guys almost crashed into the village and kept it up until the battle was over." Allura answered.

"That why she passed out then. She probably used too much of her magic too fast." I tell them.

"When will she wake up?" Hunk asks worried.

"She will probably sleep anywhere in between two hours to a day." I say.

"You mean you don't know when she'll wake up!" Lance exclaims.

"Magical exhaustion is weird in that way. It is slightly different for each person and you can never truly know how long one will be unconscious from it. Dani has told me that sometimes people can end up asleep for a month or two from magical exhaustion." I say in response to Lance.

"She won't be asleep for a month will she?" Lance and Allura exclaim panicky.

"No. That's only if her core was injured as well as using too much magic too fast." I reply. "I'm going to put her in her bed so that she will be comfortable when she wakes up." I tell them as I pick Dani up bridal style before carrying her to her room.

* * *

A few hours later in the castle having a party with the Arusians

I'm standing next to Lance as we watch the Arusians stack on top of each other, forming Voltron and the robot that we fought earlier. Hunk is a couple of Arusians to our left with Coran a couple to our right. Dani is still asleep right now in her room. Shiro I believe is somewhere by the front doors.

"The monster fell from the sky! It was an epic battle, but Voltron was victorious!" The King recounted.

The wrong Arusians fall down. The King frowns, "No. I said, 'Voltron was victorious!'"

I watch as the Arusians quickly correct their error and end the skit right.

Allura then steps towards the King. "Thank you, your majesty, for that…" She looks at the Arusian actors. "Wonderful production." She then looks at the King with a strained smile. She looks up with a genuine sad smile and announces, "It saddens me that we must leave tomorrow, but we must continue our battle with Zarkon and spread peace throughout the universe." She then turns back to the King. "Your Highness… please accept this gift." She maintains as she hands him a small communicator.

The King takes it gently. She tells him "It will allow you to contact us anytime you need help." The King smiles at her. "Arus will be the first planet in the Voltron Alliance." she continued. The King hold up the communicator and yells, "Hoorah!"

The Arusians cheer and raise their cups. Festive music starts to play.

As Hunk walks over to us he tells us, "We ought to get something like that."

"Like what?" Lance asks, frowning.

"You know, like, a cheer. Like, a team cheer that we do."

Lance nods looking pleased. He hums in support. "Mh-hmm. Yeah, okay. How about, uh…" He then leans towards Hunk and I. "I say 'Vol' and you say 'Tron.' Vol!"

I can feel my face consort with confusion as I answer with, "Uh… Voltron?"

Lance frowns. "No!. No, no, no. The cheer includes the instructions. I say 'Vol' and you say…"

I shrug and raise my eyebrows. "Vol...tron?"

Lance leans back with a frown. "We'll work on it." He grumbles. Hunk and I look at each other, I shrug in confusion. I hear Lance take a sip of his drink and start making noises of a disgust as he begins flailing violently. "Coran, what is this?!" He glowers as he jumps to Coran a few feet away.

Lance puts his hand over his mouth as Coran responds with, "Oh, this is Nunvill, the nectar of the gods."

"It tastes like hot dog water and feet."

Coran smiles. "Yeah, makes a wonderful hair tonic as well." He tells Lance as he dips his fingers into the nectar and splashes some of it onto his mustache, which immediately puffs up.

Lance gags as Coran walks away. Hunk and I begin staring at Lance with worry. I poke Lance gently to see if he responds, only for him to fall to the ground. Me and Hunk hover over him as he lays on the ground.

Hunk soon hands me a cup of Nunvill, I think. He has two lollipops in his hand as I take a drink. I taste how bad it is and immediately spit it out all over Hunk.

"Ah! My eyes!" Hunk screams, turning around with lollipops stuck to his eyes as a joke. We and the Arusians nearby start laughing.

* * *

Daniella's POV

I wake up in my room. I can tell that I have been asleep for a few hours as I can feel my magical exhaustion has gone away though I still felt the drag of walking up after collapsing in exhaustion. I am in pajamas, so I decide to get dressed in a long-sleeve shirt under a short-sleeve shirt made of basilisk scales, skin-tight black leggings, my jewelry, socks, and my knee-high basilisk scale made boots. I also then put my hair up into a low ponytail. Since I woke up and got dressed, I decided to get out of my room and find the others. As I go to the main entrance, I can see that Pidge, Shiro, Keith, Hunk, and Allura are gathering in a hallway near the front of the castle. As I start to go to them I hear Pidge tell them that she's leaving. I freeze in shock. I hear the words they say but as I listen it seems more like a nightmare to me than reality.

"Pidge, no." Shiro says in shock.

"The download from the Galra ship was enough to at least get me in the right direction to start my search. I have a pod all ready to go." She tells them.

"You can't leave." Keith growls.

Pidge glares. "You can't tell me what to do!" She retorts.

"If you leave, we can't form Voltron." Keith snaps, "And that means we can't defend the universe against Zarkon. You're not the only one with a family. All these Arusians have families. Everyone in the universe has families."

Hunk interrupts them by saying, "Yeah, I have a family. They live on Earth. I want to be with them." He then asks, "Is that, like, a thing that can happen?"

I then see sadness in Allura's eyes as she asks him, "You want to leave, too?"

"Of course I do!" Hunk replies. "Look, Voltron is super-cool, don't get me wrong, but I never signed up for a lifetime in space, fighting aliens."

Keith growls under his breath, and then lunges forward to shout at Pidge. "You're putting the lives of two people over the lives of everyone else in the entire galaxy!" He shouts. Pidge backs up a few steps in shock. Shiro grabs Keith's arm and holds him back.

"Keith, that's not how a team works." Shiro tells him seriously. "People have to want to be a part of it. They can't be forced."

Keith looks away.

Shiro turns back to Pidge. "If you want to leave, we won't try to stop you. But, please, just think about what you're doing." He pleads. He then looks to his left and sees me and says, "Daniella! Your OK!" But I wasn't looking at him, I was staring at Pidge as they all turn their heads to look at me.

"Your leaving?" I ask hearing my voice crack. Pidge looks at me and then looks down as she replies with, "Yes, I am. I'm sorry." As she says, "I'm sorry." I can hear the memory of my sister whispering "I'm sorry." to me as I saw her for the last time playing in my head.

Before she could finish what she was going to say to us after answering me I yell in anger, "You-your going to abandon us?! I thought we were your family as well! I guess I was wrong! I hope you never come back then!" I then turn around and take off deeper into the castle as I feel tears gather in my eyes but I won't let them fall. I feel betrayed and abandoned. As I run away I hear someone call my name, but I don't stop running.

* * *

Keith's POV

After I looked away I hear Shiro plead to Pidge, "If you want to leave, we won't try to stop you. But, please, just think about what you're doing." I then I hear him say in surprise, "Daniella! Your OK!" I turn my head to see Dani starting at Pidge in shock.

"Your leaving?" She asks Pidge with her voice cracking with emotion. Pidge then responds to her with, "Yes, I am. I'm sorry." As soon as Pidge says that I can tell she said the wrong thing as I watch the feelings of sadness, anger, and betrayal flash through Dani's eyes.

I see Pidge open their mouth to finish what they were going to say to us when Dani interrupts.

She yells in anger, "You-your going to abandon us?! I thought we were your family as well! I guess I was wrong! I hope you never come back then!" She then turns around and runs off. Though as she turns I can see tears forming in her eyes.

"Dani!" I call out reaching my hand out as she runs away but she keeps running.

I then turn back to Pidge. The others turned back to them before me. Pidge while starting at their feet tells us, "I'm sorry. You're going to have to find someone else to pilot the Green Lion."

Pidge then walks away. Allura has her hands held together and pressed into her chest. "I can't believe it. This team is falling apart." She whispers. "How will we ever form Voltron?"

About a minute later debris begin falling onto the first floor, startling us. We turn and look at the ceiling in shock just as the castle powered down.

We start running to the bridge to find out what happened. There is a big cloud of dust there as we enter coughing. We see Coran starting to sit up. "What happened?" Shiro asks urgently, helping Coran to sit up.

Coran groans. "I'm not sure." He responds. Hunk helps Coran to his feet and puts his arm around his shoulder. As the dust clears we see the crystal and it's shattered.

"The crystal!" Allura cries, rushing forward. "Lance!" She adds. I stare at Lance in shock and worry. We may not have a good relationship but I don't want him hurt like this.

Shiro rushes to Lance and picks him up. "Lance? Lance!" He urges. Lance groans but doesn't move.

"We have to get Lance to the infirmary!" Pidge tells us. Allura explains helplessly, "Without the crystal, the Castle has no power." I though if Dani was here she would be able to heal him fast.

Lance was covered in dust and completely limp. "He doesn't look good." Shiro mutters.

"Lion warriors!" The King calls, interrupting us. "Our village is under attack! We need help!" He begs us in desperation, sweating.

"Let's get to the Lions!" I insisted to Shiro.

"You can't." Allura tells us. I turn my head to look at her as she continues, "They're sealed in their hangers. There's no way to get them out. We're defenseless." Allura then looks at her feet.

"Will you not help us?" The King asks, shocked. "We'll help you, we just…" I trail off as I hear Lance groan.

"This is bad." Hunk says frowning. Coran then pulls away from him to stand on his own. "We have to get a new crystal to get the castle working again. But, to get a new crystal, we need a ship." He muttering worriedly.

Pidge's eyes go wide as they declare, "The pod I was loading, we can use that! I left the bay door open."

Coran tips his head in a nod. "I can use the scanner in the pod to see if there's a Balmera nearby." He then turns to Hunk, "Hunk, you come with me. I'll need someone big to help me carry the crystal."

"A Balmera?" Hunk tills his head.

"It's where the crystals come from. I'll tell you about it on the way!" Coran commands as he walks out of the room with Hunk and Pidge following him.

I turn to Shiro. "I'll go see what's happening at the Arusian village."

Allura then declares, "I'll go with you, Keith. I brought this on the poor Arusians."

"I'll tend to Lance and stand watch over the castle." Shiro informs us, looking down at Lance.

"If you see Dani or find her, she can heal Lance." I tell him just before Allura and I leave to go to the village.

* * *

Daniella's POV

A minute after I ran away deeper into the Castle, the Castle shook and the lights turned off. I immediately hunkered down on the floor in a corner and stayed there for a few minutes. As soon as I was ready to leave the corner I hunkered down in to calm myself I cloaked myself with an invisibility spell and the Silencio spell on myself to make myself invisible and to make me silent. I then make my way to the entrance slowly as I enter the entrance hall I saw a galra with two galra drones pick up an injured Lance as I then see Sendak and Shiro each having their robotic arms at each other's throats. I am at the very entrance of the entrance hall up the stairs so I can't help.

"Let him go or your friend won't make it!" I hear the galra who's name I don't know drops Lance to the ground.

Shiro turns his head, distracted and Sendak knocks him to the ground with his clawed robotic fist. Shiro as he lands next to Lance is knocked unconscious. "Voltron is ours." Sendak purrs.

I hear a very quiet I almost missed it whisper of, "Oh, no." from somewhere to the right near me.

As Sendak, the other galra and four sentries which are dragging Lance, Takashi, and a purple crystal I let them pass me as I hold my breath and let myself melt into the wall. After they are at least two meters ahead of me I start to follow them to the command center. I stay hidden behind the door with my invisibility spell still on.

I watch as the four sentries each stuck a cord into the purple crystal. "Power up the Castle." Sendak commands. The Castle then starts to glow purple instead of the light blue. I watch as pictures of the Lions in their hangers deactivated appearing in front of Sendak.

"The Lions are all in their bays. Raising particle barrier. Begin launch sequence." Sendak declares. "Make contact with Emperor Zarkon."

I watch as the other galra calls Zarkon as he comes up on screen. "My mission is complete. I've captured the Altean Castle, along with all of the Voltron Lions. I am currently preparing for launch and will be delivering them all to you shortly." He maintains proudly.

"This news is most pleasing. You have done your duty. Vrepit Sa!" Zarkon replies in a growling voice.

"Vrepit Sa!"

Sendak then turns to the other galra. "Haxus, ready the Castle for takeoff."

"Yes, Commander."

I see that Lance and Takashi are still unconscious on the floor. I have my goblin-made knives in my boots but my swords are still in my room. I have my throwing knives all over my person but I don't know if I have the strength to defeat both Sendak and Haxus. I am running in my mind what spells I'm good at and can use against them because some spells aren't as effect against creatures not from earth.

"Run main cluster activation sequence." Sendak commands.

"Activation sequence initiated. Powering up for launch." Haxus responds.

While I'm contemplating what to do I hear Haxus exclaim in confusion, "The main engine just shorted out!"

As I watch as Sendak goes to the screen I hear him say, "We have a saboteur. Find him and take him out."


	9. Tears of the Balmera

Keith's POV a few minutes earlier

Allura and I are stuck on the outside of the particle barrier. I then ask her as I pull out my bayard, "Can we break through the barrier?"

"No. And whoever has taken the Castle has a crystal, which means they'll be able to fly the ship. We have to stop them." She rebukes.

"How are we going to do that?"

I then hear Pidge's voice. "Keith, can you hear me?"

"Pidge, is that you? Where are you?"

"I'm inside the Castle. Sendak has taken over and he's preparing for launch. He's got Lance and Shiro. I don't know where Dani is. I know Sendak doesn't have her though."

"Pidge, listen. If they've started the launch sequence, then we don't have much time before liftoff to stop it." Allura states.

"What do I have to do?" Pidge asks.

"You have to get down to the main engine control panel and disconnect the primary turbine from the central energy chamber. If you can do that, Sendak will have to reset the whole system. That might give us enough time to find a way to stop them."

"Okay, Allura, I'm near the turbine. I think it's started."

"Then you'll have to hurry." Allura then starts pacing as she gives Pidge more instructions. "Cross the main catwalk to the main column in the center." Pidge then gives an affirmative. "Now, open the hatch. Find the central computer control hub and enter the following sequence" Allura then starts to say the sequence when the castle starts to shake. Allura and I start backing up as Allura tells me, "I've lost connection with Pidge! Oh, no! It's taking off!"

* * *

Daniella's POV

Shiro has woken up and was now on his knees with his hands tied up behind him, while Lance is still unconscious. Even if I could heal Lance without the enemies seeing me spells don't work on fire damage. The best way to heal fire damage are with healing pastes made for burns. As I look at Lance worriedly from my hiding spot even though I have spells on me that are hiding me as well, I hear Sendak shout, "Haxus! I want whoever's in this ship found and terminated!"

"Commander Sendak, I've received a transmission generating from somewhere inside." Haxus then leans over a control board and presses a button.

Allura's voice then begins to play. "There's not much time before they get the ship running again. You must shut off the particle barrier so we can get in."

Pidge's voice then replies with, "You got it. Tell me what to do."

Allura then responds with, "The particle barrier generator is beneath the main hull."

Allura's voice continues but I am no longer listening as I watch Haxus frown. "She's telling the intruder how to take down our defenses."

Sendak then declares, "Yes, but she's also giving away his location." He then turns to the sentries and commands, "Find that room. Kill the paladin." They then turn and walk out of the room they just barely miss running into me.

Sendak then turns back to Haxus. "Repair the engine. Emperor Zarkon has commanded us to bring him Voltron. This ship will rise before day's end." As Haxus leaves the room to the engine I follow him a few meters behind.

* * *

Keith's POV

We just got back in contact with Pidge as they stopped the launch for now. Allura is giving instructions to Pidge on how to take down the particle barrier. As they do that I worry for Dani I know she's in the Castle but where? I wonder what she is doing. I then hear Pidge scream over coms.

"Pidge! Hello? Are you there?" Allura continues calling, "Pidge, what's going on?"

Allura's eyes then widen. "Wait… The mice. Maybe they can help." She then closes her eyes tightly to communicate with the mice.

* * *

Daniella's POV

I have followed Haxus to the engine room. He still doesn't know that I'm here.

"Powering sub panels." Haxus says.

Sendak then says over com, "Sub panel energy transducer is go."

I then see Pidge climbing a ladder on the wall as Haxus and Sendak continue talking. I see her open a panel on the wall and I think scan it.

I turn back to look at Haxus's screen as he says, "Initializing complete. I'm set for main power up."

"The bridge is go."

"Powering up."

I then watch as the power starts rising to overload after he stops touching the screen. I then use Wingardium Leviosa on my boots so that I will float in the air as Haxus states that "Something is wrong."

The blue energy ball begins growing in size just before it electrocutes Haxus. Pidge then jumps from where they were using Rover so that they won't fall and lets them land in front of Haxus.

"You're the one causing all this trouble? A child?" Haxus says as he grits his teeth.

They both glare at each other. "I'm not a child. I'm a paladin of Voltron."

Haxus staggers to his feet and pulls out his sword. "Let me tell you something, child. I'm a soldier of the Galra empire. Nothing stops me but triumph or death." He grins deviously.

Just before he takes a step towards Pidge I yell out, "Expelliarmus." I hit him in the chest and his sword goes flying land a couple of meters to the left. My hiding spells have been canceled because of my actions. I fall as I cancel my Hover charm. I land in front and slightly to the left of Pidge. He then yells in anger and comes at us with his claws. Pidge then tries to grapple him with her bayard when he catches it and throws her across the room. He then kicks me in the chest causing me to double over to catch my breath because I wasn't able to move fast enough to dodge the kick. After he hits me he runs toward Pidge to push her off the edge.

I then yell, "Flipendo!" I hit Haxus and he gets knocked back away from Pidge and about to fall off the edge as the spell had made him lose his balance and knocked him to the edge. He just barely saves himself when Rover hits him in his face and pushes him off. Haxus then grabs Rover in an attempt to save himself.

"Rover!" Pidge cries.

Rover holds him up for a couple seconds, but before Haxus could save himself, Rover powered down and they both fell to their deaths. "NO!" Pidge shouts, racing to the edge.

I watch as Pidge pulls away from the edge, devastated. "Haxus, report in." Sendak says over coms. Pidge and I both then walk over, glaring. Pidge then declares, "Haxus is gone, and you're next!"

"You've slowed me down, but this ship is mine!" Sendak retorts, "You will turn yourself over to me immediately!"

"Never!" Pidge cries as I growl deep in my chest.

"Well, then, maybe your leader can convince you."

"What do you want?" Shiro growls over the com. Our eyes widen. "Your friend wanted to hear from you." Sendak replies calmly.

"Shiro?" Pidge asks as I mouth his name. I plan to keep as silent as possible so that we can surprise him with the two of us as he will only be expecting Pidge.

"Pidge? Pidge, don't listen to h-" Shiro then cuts off as he starts screaming. I can tell that he is being tortured. As the screaming continues for multiple seconds I close my eyes in anger and sadness.

"No!" I hear Pidge gasp.

Sendak then tells us, "You can make it stop. Turn yourself in. His suffering is in your hands."

Pidge and I are hiding around a corner I hear Sendak say, "I'm impressed that you managed to escape. Perhaps it would be worth the trip to your planet to see if the rest of your kind have your spirit."

Sendak then sighs. "Of course, they will all end up broken, just like you. Now that we have Voltron, every planet, every race, all share the same fate."

* * *

Keith's POV

The particle barrier went down. "It worked!" I exclaim.

"They did it!" Allura adds happily. We then run into the Castle.

* * *

Daniella's POV

We use a Pidge hologram for Sendak to chase out of the control room. After he ran pass us, we both run into the control room. Pidge ran to Shiro as I ran to the controls.

"Shiro, wake up. It's me, Pidge."

I then hear Pidge cut off and turn around. I see Sendak lifting her with his arm. "You really thought your little hologram trick would work on me?"

I pull out both my daggers readying to shout and get Sendak's attention. Just before I could shout Keith and Allura come running in and Keith activates his bayard. Lance then wakes up and shoots Sendak in the shoulder just before passing out again.

Shiro then runs at Sendak only to get punched back. Keith then races at Sendak with a growl, managing to hit him a couple times before getting thrown across the room. Pidge runs up next, slicing his robotic arm off with the sharp piece of her bayard. "No!" Sendak growls, running at her again. As he starts running at Pidge I throw five throwing knives at him three misses, while one hits him in the shoulder and the other in his leg. Allura as I throw my knives runs up to the control module and starts typing furiously.

Even with the knife in his shoulder and leg Sendak knocks Pidge down and Keith stand up to run back at him again. Sendak caught Keith's sword in one hand and was holding it back. Allura continues typing and then turns and shouts, Keith! Now!"

Keith lifts his legs up to kick Sendak back as a smaller particle barrier comes up around Sendak trapping him.

Pidge cut Shiro's handcuffs off. Keith walks over to Lance and offers his hand to help him sit up. "Lance, are you okay?" He asks, crouching beside him. I watch Lance smile, turning to look at Keith. "We did it. We are a good team." Keith smiles as they still are holding hands.

As Keith picks up Lance as he passes back out. "Dani can you heal him?" Shiro asks.

"Burns have to heal naturally sadly so all I can do is put some burn paste on him to help the burns heal faster till we can get him in a pod." I tell them. "Take Lance to the Med-bay and I will be there soon with the paste."

A little over an hour later

We had got Lance in a pod as soon as the crystal was put in and the paste we put on him helped with the burns.

"After a day in here, he should be fully healed." Allura informs us calmly. Shiro then walks over to Pidge.

"Pidge, we can't thank you enough for all that you did. I can't help but feel that you were meant to be a part of our team..." He trails off.

"But, I understand if you want to leave." He adds, sighing. Pidge shuts her eyes, and then opens them a few seconds later. "Dad used to tell me how close he was with his crew members. They were like family." Pidge looks up at Allura, Keith, Shiro and I. "Now I understand what he was talking about."

"I'm staying with you guys." She smiles. "Let's stop Zarkon for all our families."

Keith smiles down at her. "Good to have you back on the team."

* * *

In Daniella's trunk

"Are you ok with Pidge staying after they tried to leave?" Keith asks me as we sit on the couch in my living room.

"I can forgive her for leaving but I don't think I will forget or trust her anytime soon. I feel abandoned and betrayed by her, that won't go away overnight. It will take time before I will trust her again." I tell him.


	10. Taking Flight

Daniella's POV

After a half an hour after Keith asked me if I was ok, I returned to the Medbay with a few blankets and pillows so that all of us could camp out in the Medbay as we wait for Lance to come out of the pod. "Hey guys so we're camping in here tonight right?" I ask them as I enter the Medbay.

"Yeah. So you got the blankets and pillows, now we just need Hunk to bring the food and get some games to play." Pidge responds.

"I have games in my room that I can bring out for us to play."

"Ok. Go and get them. Hunk should have the food by then." I then leave after putting down the blankets and pillows to go get the games I have. When I return with the games Keith, Pidge, Hunk, and Takashi are there with the food and the blankets and pillows set up to relax.

"Ok, the games I have are clue, uno, normal card games, and betrayal at house on the hill." I tell them as I put down the two board games and the three small boxes of cards.

"Let's play Clue till we fall asleep." Takashi suggests. We all then make noises of affirmative.

As we set up the game Pidge asks me, "Why is your clue game's theme The Big Band Theory?"

"Because it was the only clue game in the store when my family went looking for the game after we lost our first clue game." I reply.

"How did you lose your first clue board game?" Takashi asks in surprise.

"We lost it when we were moving." I tell them, "You know this game can tell you a lot about a person by the way they play." I then start to difive the cards between us when I remember that with five players the cards aren't divided equally. "The cards don't divide equally so should some of us have four cards or have these face up to the side so that everyone sees them?" I ask them.

"Have some people with four cards." Everyone replies. I then give the last three cards to me, Keith, and Pidge. We played Clue for a few hours before I fell asleep. We all won at least one game before I fell asleep.

* * *

Several hours later

I jump up into awakeness as I feel pain ride from my tail up my spine as I instinctively hiss in pain. "Dani." Keith starts with a worried tone.

"What?" I snap in confusion, pain, and drowsiness. I look around and notice that everyone was in the Medbay and staring at me except for Lance who was still in the pod; only for me to realize that my ears and tail were visible. I can't tell if my pupils have narrowed into slits yet and I felt my fangs come out when I hissed. Though it seemed that my magic, when the concealment charm on my ears and tail broke, acted to protect me by making my ears and tail fur look the color of my hair. "Oh."

"Why do you have cat ears and tail!?" Pidge shreks.

"Well you never asked if I was human." I reply. "Wait did someone step on my tail?" I then ask in realization to the pain in my tail. Keith discreetly nods towards Hunk as Hunk looks at me apologetically.

"You mean there are other species on your planet that humans don't know about?" Allura asks.

"Yeah. There are giants, merpeople, fairies, werewo-" I start listing off the magical creatures that can have a child with humans when Hunk interrupts me.

"Werewolves are real?" Hunk exclaims. I nod.

"How can you not be human or at least part?" Takashi then asks in confusion.

"Well in the magical community if you have the trait of the magical creature you are that magical creature. Doesn't matter if you used to be human or have human blood in your veins." I convey to them.

"What magical creature are you?" Takashi asks.

"I'm a Neko. I get my neko traits from my mom who got it from her mom." I reply.

"But that still doesn't tell us why you hide it from us." Allura comments.

"In the magical community most magical creatures are prejudiced against. In fact Neko's, even though it's illegal now, are still being captured and sold as slaves. So I naturally hide Neko traits to keep myself safe." I reveal to them.

"What do you mean it used to be legal to sell nekos as slaves? After all slavery was abolished in 1865 in the US." Pidge asks.

"Well for you guys salvery was abolished in 1865. For nekos slavery for us was only just abolished in 2273. Slavery has only been illegal for 48 years. Along with that all magical creatures or people with magical creature blood don't have equal rights compared to wizards and witches." I tell them.

"Wow. The magical community sounds real backwards." Pidge stats.

"Most of the magical communities are backwards but depending where on the world you were it could be more backwards or less backwards." I replied to Pidge.

"Wait how backwards are some places." Hunk inquires.

"Well like I said depends on what country you're in. But Britain is the most backwards, with Japan being the least backwards out of all the magical communities." I answer.

"I'm not sure I want to know but how backwards is Britain?" Takashi asks.

"Well let's just say they only just accepted that electricity is not just a passing thing." I answer. I can tell those from Earth are very shocked at this information.

"Well anyway you can let your ears and tail out if you want. How did you hide your ears and tail?" Allura asks.

"I used a concealment charm. It makes my neko traits invisible to the eyes but as you can see when Hunk stepped on my tail That magic dissolved for Hunk because he could feel something there and it failed for the rest of you because you were observant enough to notice either that Hunk felt something that you couldn't see or the way I reacted." I inform them.

"Why do you keep saying neko traits instead of ears and tail when we talk about your ears and tail?" Pidge asks.

"Did you guys really think that her ears and tail are her only readily seen neko traits?" Keith asks in amusement.

"Wait how do you know that she has more traits then ears and tail, Keith?" Takashi asks.

"When a neko is born they look completely human. On a nekos' magical majority their neko traits that can be readily seen appear." I inform them. "I showed Keith my neko traits when they appeared on my magical majority."

"Does that mean that you have other neko traits that aren't easily seen or known?" Pidge asks in curiosity.

"Yeah, those that you don't easily see are just certain instincts or parts of how nekos' bodies work or bend." I reply. "Are you guys going to try and find out my other neko traits or not?" I ask.

Everyone but Keith looked at each other, then looked back at me. "I think that we want to figure out your traits later when we're all together." Allura answers.

"Oh so you want to learn more later so that Lance can learn it as well and catch up to what you know." I respond in realization. They all nod.

* * *

A little bit later

We are all gathered by Lance's pod looking at him.

"I can't tell if he looks healthy or not." Hunk says.

I watch as Pidge then leans in. "I think he's breathing weird."

"Oh, come on!" Keith growls, poking the pod. Allura pushes his hand back. "Not yet, a few more ticks."

Keith glares at Allura. "How much better do you think he's going to get in a few more ticks?"

Pidge and I ask at the same time, "And what exactly is a tick/What's a tick?" Pidge and I look at each other in surprise.

"You know, a time slice."

Takashi then says, "Like a second?" as we all turn to look at him.

"What is a second? I heard Dani say that word a few days ago."

Pidge then pulls out a timer from her pocket. "Like this."

Allura leans in and responds with, "I'm not sure. I think ticks are larger." She then looks up at Coran. "Coran, do you have a ticker?"

Coran turns around. "Right here, Princess." He pulls out a ticker from somewhere and starts it.

The team gathers around Coran though I stay by the pod. Hunk I see leans in close. "Hm, I think ticks are a bit slower."

Pidge looks from the timer to the ticker. "I can't tell. We have to start them at the same time."

I watch as they put the ticker and timer next to each other. "Okay. Ready, go!" They both start them.

"Yes! I think we're winning!" Hunk exclaims.

I watch as Keith then looks at Hunk. "Winning what? The intergalactic time measuring competition?"

"Yes."

While they were distracted with the time measuring whatever the pod opens and Lance stumbles into my arms as I catch him. "What happened? You guys having a clock party?" He asks tiredly from my arms.

"Lance! We'll tell you all about it while you get some food." Allura says in happiness and a little worry as she walks up to put a hand on him back.

"Talking? Eating? Are you asking me out on a date?" Lance flirts. Allura frowns and pulls her hand away.

Everyone deadpans different versions of "He's fine." I let go of his shoulder letting him sag forward.

"You did that on purpose!" Lance accuses.

"Yes, I did. After all if you're well enough to flirt, you're well enough to walk." I tell him

We then go to the dining room and give Lance some food goo to eat. After a bit of Allura saying what went on with us chiming in at times as Allura then compliments the paladins, "He'd be Sendak's prisoner right now, if not for Pidge."

Pidge smiles, looking young and happy. "Well, you wouldn't have survived the explosion if Hunk and Coran hadn't gotten a new crystal." She points out.

"Wow. Thanks, everybody." Lance smiles. He then turns to Keith and I. "Sounds like the mice did more than you two, though."

The mice look to be prining as Keith crosses his arms and my fur raises on my tail and as my ears flatten in anger even though to Lance I probably look like I am just a bit angry as my neko traits are hidden right now. "I punched Sendak!" Keith snaps.

"Yeah, apparently after I emerged from a coma and shot his arm off."

"We had a bonding moment. I cradled you in my arms!" Keith exclaims with shock and hurt in his eyes.

Lance crosses his arms and shakes his head as he says, "Nope. Don't remember, it didn't happen."

"Also you didn't shoot his arm off. Saying you shot his arm off implies that when you shot him his arm fell off since you shot him in his flesh and blood arm." I then continue calmly with a hint of anger, "And I did help, your scar would be three times its size if it wasn't for my special made Mallenio salve, as well as helping Pidge take down Haxus."

Lance stares at me with wide eyes in shock for a second before he then turns to Allura. "So, what happened to Sendak?" He asks. She leans forward a bit. "He's frozen in a cryo-pod. We're keeping him here in the Castle."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Lance asks.

"He's too dangerous to be set free." Allura points out, "Besides, we might be able to get some information about Zarkon from him."

"So, what's the plan now?" Lance asks.

"We have to get back to the Balmera and save Shay and her people." Hunk declares with a frown.

"Wow, you are really hung up on this lady."

Hunk shakes his head. "No, it's not like that. Look. Guys, when you see how Zarkon has treated these people and destroyed their home-They've been under his thumb for so long, they don't know what it is to be free. It's up to us to set this right. This is what being a paladin is all about. It's time to man up."

"Then let's get moving. Time to go defend the universe." Takashi urges the team. The rest of them other than me and Pidge follow him. Pidge then stands up and interrupts. "Wait. I have something to say first. I need to come clean. And I'm afraid this may change the way you all think about me. Just so there are no more secrets between us anymore, I can't 'man up.' I'm a girl." She then tilts her head. "I mean, I can 'man up' because that's just a figure of speech. I don't have to actually be a man to 'man up.' I just have to be tough. But what I'm saying-" Pidge is the cut off by Lance exclaiming, "Wha…? You're a girl? How?"

"I've known for some time, but I'm glad you've shared it with everyone." Allura tells her with a smile.

"Yeah, I figured." Hunk smiles.

"Oh, yeah, me too." Keith smiles as well.

"Wait, we were supposed to think you were a boy?" Coran leans in with a frown.

"Did you really think you fooled me into thinking you were a boy?" I ask with a smile. "You look like a mini version of your brother."

Takashi then smiles as he says, "Pidge, owning who you are is going to make you a better paladin."

Pidge sighs in relief. "It's good to get that off my chest. Now before we launch this Castle-ship Dani has something to say as well. Don't you?" Pidge says turning to me.

"Yep." I let down my concealment charm hiding my neko traits as I say to Lance, "I'm a neko. A magical species. Now let's go launch this Castle-ship." Pidge and I then race after the other paladins.

I hear Lance shake his head and say in disbelief. "Wait, what? Pidge is a girl, Dani's a neko, what exactly is a neko, and the Castle's a ship? How long have I been out?"

I call out, "Just over half a quintant."

After we get to the Bridge the paladins sit in their respective seats, I stand by Keith's seat, and Allura and Coran go to their control stations. "Activate interlock." Allura commands.

"Dynotherms connected." Coran replies.

"Mega thrusters are go."

"We are ready to depart Planet Arus on your mark, Princess." Coran announced.

"Firing main engines for launch." Allura comments. The ship then starts shaking as it starts to fly into the air and into space.

After we started flying to the Balmera we all got up to congregate and talk about what we are going to do.

Hunk is pacing. "So… When we get there, what do you think? Do we just roll up and start blasting? Or do we land and have some kind of public address system, like, 'Attention Galras, this is Voltron. Turn yourselves in'? No. Blasting, right?"

Keith and I look at Hunk. "Hunk, calm down." Keith holds out his hands and pushes them down a few times, then leans against the wall again. "And, yes, blasting."

Takashi then turns to Keith smiling. "It's our first big rescue mission. He's excited."

"Excited to see his new girlfriend." Pidge teases, tilting her head back to look at Hunk.

Hunk gasps. "She's not my girlfriend! She's just a rock that I met and I admire very much." He is then cut off by an alarm. We all looked up, startled.

"What is it? Are we being attacked?" Takashi asks Coran, worry in his voice.

Coran replies, "No, it seems to be a distress beacon."

"It's coming from a nearby moon. Apparently, a ship has lost power." Allura frowns as she looks at the coordinates.

Pidge putting a hand to her chin says, "I wonder who it is."

"Whoever it is will have to wait." Hunk interrupts upset. "Shay has first priority. We can check back on them when we're done."

"The Paladin Code states that we must help all those in need." Allura tells us. Hunk crosses his arms and turns away from Allura.

Lance stands up. "Wow! This is so cool. It's like we're space cops on space patrol. Coran, do we have a siren we can turn on?"

Coran turns to look at Lance. "Uh, no, but we could record you making a siren noise and broadcast that to them."

"Perfect!" Lance exclaims as I then mutter, "No." Lance then begins to make a siren noise.

Takashi then covers his mouth. "No, not doing that."

As we go to land in front of the ship Allura speaks over the intercom, "Attention, damaged craft, this is Princess Allura. We are coming to assist you."

After we finished landing Allura tells Coran, "Stay aboard and try to get as many of our systems clear of that Galra crystal energy as you can. We'll see who hailed us."

"Yes, Princess."

The rest of us drop out of the castle in a small pod. "You don't know how glad we are to see some friendly faces." The Male one of the three greets us.

"Most folks don't want to get tangled up with anyone who's on the run from the Galra." He adds.

Keith then speaks up. "So, you guys are fighting the Galra?"

The Male crosses his arms. "Well, I don't think Zarkon is exactly Quaking in his boots at the three of us, but we do what we can. I'm Rolo, this is Nyma and our cyber-unit Beezer."

"Hi." Nyma smiles. Lance I see in the corner of my eye starts blushing. Beezer makes a beeping noise and Pidge gasps in awe.

Lance kisses Nyma's hand. Pidge runs over to Beezer. "Cool robot!" She then starts examining Beezer.

"Hi. Name's Lance." Lance says firtatiously to Nyma. She giggles.

"Was your ship damaged in a fight?" Takashi asks Rolo. Rolo blinks in surprise before replying, "Yeah, we've really been through it with the Galra. Parts are hard to come by. Luckily, we were able to limp to this moon about a week ago. If you didn't pick up our distress signal, I-" He was then interrupted by Allura.

"We're happy to help. I am Princess Allura of Altea, and from now on, you won't be alone fighting the Galra. You'll have the Paladins of Voltron by your side."

Rolo turns his head to look at Pidge, who was sitting on Beezer, and Lance, who was flirting with Nyma. "Okay…" He sounds unimpressed.

"I don't think they've heard of us." Takashi comments with a frown.

Keith and I have our arms crossed. We then say at the same time, "It has been ten thousand years."

Lance then interrupts, turning towards Rolo. "Voltron? Five robot lions that combine into this big robot… guy?"

"Sounds impressive. I'd love to see it. Or him… Them." Rolo murmurs confused.

"Why don't we get started on your ship?" Hunk offers impatiently. "I'm sure we all have places to be."

"Sure."

Rolo opens the side of the ship. "Pretty much our whole flaxum assembly is shot. I don't know what kind of extra parts you carry in this rig of yours. I've never seen anything quite like it." Rolo then looks at the Castle.

As Allura says to Rolo, "I'm sure we can get you back up and running. Give Hunk a list of what you need. Coran can show you where to find it." Lance flexes at Nyma making her giggle. Takashi then hits him in the back.

"Okay." Hunk mutters.

Rolo tells Hunk, "We'll go with you. Don't want you to have to carry all that yourself." He then calls to Nyma and Beezer, "Come on, guys."

Rolo takes a step forward but is held back by Hunk. "Uh, I don't think so. You can just wait out here."

"Hunk, don't be rude." Allura scolds.

Lance points at Hunk. "Yeah, mind your manners. There are ladies present." He then makes finger guns at Nyma. She smiles at him.

Hunk glares at Rolo. "Oh, I'm sorry, but does anyone remember the last time we let our defenses down? Someone kind of set off a bomb. Remember, Lance? It almost killed you."

"Oh, yeah." Lance mutters, frowning.

Takashi then steps towards Hunk and Rolo. "Hunk's right. Sorry, but we have to be cautious."

"Hey, I don't take it personal. That's how it's out here. You've got to look out for your own. You're doing a good job, big man." He then takes the list Beezer prints from it and hands it to Hunk.

"Yeah, thanks." Hunk mutters in disbelief as he takes the list.

"Let me help you Hunk." As Hunk starts going back to the Castle. As we gather the supplies from where Coran told us they were I tell Hunk, "I don't trust them either. Something about them just rubs me wrong."

As we bring the crate of supplies out we hear Rolo tell the others, "My planet was destroyed by the Galra and I was taken captive. I managed to escape but not before I lost something." We then hear a knocking on metal.

"I know exactly how that feels." Takashi clenches his robotic fist.

"Well, I hope there are some parts in here that'll fit. You know, to get your ship moving?"

"Great. Thanks." Rolo calls.

Allura then interrupts. "So, what can you tell us about Zarkon's forces? Where are they concentrated?" She asks. I watch as Pidge rolls around on Beezer's head. I then walk over to Keith by the fire.

"Well, his command ship sits right in the center of the Empire. He mostly calls the shots from there and has minions do the work, depending on who's closest." Rolo then gestures to the sky. "This is the territory of a real nasty bugger named Sendak."

"Oh, we've met." Keith and I comment at the same time.

"How far are we from the center?" Takashi asks.

"We're way out on the fringes." Rolo responds.

Hunk walks over. "Sorry to interrupt, but I think you guys are kind of keeping Rolo from working. It's just that we're in a hurry. A hero named Shay saved my life, and I swore I would return to do the same for her and her people. You understand."

"Sure. Sorry." Rolo then stands up and pats Hunk's shoulder as he passes him. Even though my neko traits are hidden I use my ears to listen to all the conversations nearby.

"Hunk, we're going to get going soon, but I think Rolo might have some information that could be useful to us." I hear Takashi tell Hunk.

"Not for nothing but I don't trust this guy as far as I can throw him. I think we ought to leave him with the parts and just say, 'Adiós, amigo.'" Hunk replies.

He was cut off by Rolo calling, "Hey, bud! Sorry, but do you think you could hunt down a length of thermal pipe about yay long?" He was making a shape with his hand.

Hunk groans. "On the way." He then walks towards the castle.

Takashi then approaches Rolo. "So, are there more freedom fighters? Any kind of organized resistance to the Galra?" He asks. Keith and Allura then start walking to where Takashi is talking with Rolo.

I see Rolo frown. "Only folks who haven't been colonized yet, or the lucky few, like us, who managed to escape somehow."

Keith then speaks up. "Well, we're going to change all that."

"That's good to hear, but I've got to warn you, it's pretty bad out there. You don't know what you're up against."

I watched Lance and Nyma flirt. I didn't trust her the most out of the three. I watch as Lance brought Nyma into the Castle. I wish I could have stopped him but I didn't know how to get him to listen to me.

As I watch the Blue lion fly away I hear Hunk groan, "Oh, Lance!"

I then hear Rolo tell Hunk, "Let them have their fun. Thanks to you, this thing is just about ready, so we're going to be on our way soon. Too many light years on that guy, I guess."

"Yeah…" I hear Hunk mutter.

I heard I faint beeping from where Rolo was just before he slipped out of the ship. "I think this thing is just about ready for a test flight." Rolo then pats the ship. "Beezer, come co-pilot for me. Be back in a tick." He tells us quickly. They then went in the ship and shoot off.

I start pacing after they left. A few minutes later Pidge asks, "How many ticks have they been gone?"

"I don't know." Allura sighs. "I hope they didn't break down again."

"Something ain't right." Hunk mutters as I say loudly, "Something's not right."

We then hear Lance over coms, "Guys? Hello? Little help?"

Takashi gasps when he hears Lance. "Lance? Lance! Are you all right? What's going on?" He asks worriedly.

"Well, I'm kind of chained to a tree…" Lance replies.

"I knew it." Hunk and I say at the same time.

"And I think Nyma and Rolo just stole the Blue Lion."

"I knew it!"

"Where are they?" Takashi frowns.

"Uh, space?" Lance offers.

"Uh, I never trusted those guys, right from the beginning!" Hunk shouts, frowning.

As the rest of the Paladins get in their Lions I hear Hunk say over coms, "At first, it was a feeling in my gut, but when I was replacing that thermal pipe, The pipe was cracked, but none of the hardware around it was damaged."

"We get it!" Keith interrupts.

Hunk continues anyway. "If the thermal pipe is cracked, then, obviously, hello, the entire assembly should be totally roasted."

"Okay! We get it." Keith says exasperated.

Hunk continues anyway. "We should've had to replace the entire undercarriage of that reactor. So, right then, I was, like, positive. Foul play."

The entire team then shouts, "Okay,we get it!"

* * *

Keith's POV

"We'll never get through this asteroid field!" Pidge exclaims.

"Maybe I can just bust through!" Hunk shouts, ramming his lion into an asteroid. The asteroid barely moved, and hit another asteroid, which also barely moved.

"Nope. That was wrong. That was a bad idea." Hunk calls.

"Keith." Shiro says. "You're the only one who could possibly fly through this. We need you, buddy. Get in there and flush them out."

I feel my mouth go into a smirk as I reply, "You got it. See you on the other side."

As I flew through the asteroid field with Red. It felt as if we were one being flying through space as we caught up to Rolo and Nyma before disabling their blasters before forcing the ship down.

* * *

Daniella's POV

I hear Keith shout over coms, "Yeah!" before chuckling. "Hey, Lance, I got your lion back."

"Thank you, Keith. Now, can you come and unchain me?" I hear Lance ask.

"What's that? I, uh… You're cutting out. I can't.. I can't hear you."

"Oh, come on! I thought we bonded!" Lance groans. "Keith? Buddy? My man?"

Soon the whole team was on the ground surrounding Rolo, Nyma, and Beezer. "Since your ship really doesn't work now, you'll have to wait here for a rescue." Keith says to them.

"Thanks… for sparing our lives." Rolo murmurs.

"Now that these guys are dealt with, let's get to the Balmera and save Shay and her family." Hunk growls.

"You may not believe this, but I hope you do stop Zarkon. It's a lifetime of fighting the Galra that led me to where I am today." Rolo whispers, looking down. We then walk away from them.


	11. Return to the Balmera

Daniella's POV

"We'll be arriving at the Balmera soon. Liberating these Balmerans from Zarkon's grasp will not be easy." Allura warns us.

"So, what's the plan?" Lance asks. "We just go in there and just- pow, pow, pow!" He makes sound effects and finger guns. "And free the prisoners?"

"What was that noise?" Keith deadpans. Keith and I had debated before on how different types of guns sound so I could tell he wasn't impressed.

Lance then turns his head towards Keith with a smirk. "Laser guns."

"No, Lance, I think you mean- bcoo, bcoo, bcoo." Hunk crouches a bit, holding out his arms and starts making sound effects. Lance crosses his arms and replies, "That sounds like fireworks."

"Technically, they're more like- ba-choo, ba-choo, ba-choo!" Pidge interrupts, making finger guns.

"Okay, enough with the bad sound effects." Takashi calls. "Besides, it's more like- blam, blam, blam!"

"What?"

"Are you serious?"

"You're crazy."

"No way."

"Wrong."

"Paladins, focus!" Allura grumbles.

"Besides, we can't just shoot at the Galra." Hunk speaks up. "This Balmera, it's, like, alive. And from what we;ve seen it doesn't look very good." A thermal scan of the planet appears on the screen in front of us.

Coran nods. "Yes, it's an atrocity what the Galra have been doing to this grand beast. Stealing its crystals, it's very life force, without ever performing the energy rejuvenation ceremonies to heal it."

Hunk's face hardens. "After seeing Shay's people enslaved, it made me realize how bad Zarkon really is. And we're the only ones who can stop him." Hunk then glances towards Takashi.

"Okay, so we can't go into the tunnels guns blazing." Takashi mutters. "Plan B. We figure out how to draw the Galra up to the surface and battle them out there."

"Wait. I know. If we attack all of this big mining stuff on the surface, the Galra troops will have to come out to defend it. Then we beat them up head down to the tunnels, Voltron saves the day." Hunk grins proudly.

Keith crosses his arms. "How will we know how many are left in the tunnels?" He asks.

"We also have to think about the fact that they know a paladin has been to this Balmera what if they have reinforcements." I tell them.

Allura smiles. "We can track the Galra and the Balmerans using Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology. It will tell us how many Galra are there too." A hologram of a small, egg shaped piece of technology appears in front of Allura.

"Oh, BLIP tech!" Pidge crouches down to look at it closer. Allura blinks in confusion. "It's an acronym." Pidge explains weakly.

"One of you will need to fly around the Balmera and drop sensors into the shafts on each side. Then we'll be able to see where the Galra and the Balmerans are. There are already sensors built into your suits."

Pidge smiles happily as she conveys, "I can do it. I just modified the Green Lion with the invisible maze's cloaking ability. I should be able to fly around unnoticed."

A picture of the surface of the Balmera appears on the screen. "That's their main power generator. If you take that down, it will severely weaken their defenses."

Allura nods. "We'll stay in cloud cover and give tactical support. With the Castle's defenses weakened from Sendak's crystal, we won't be much help to you." She tells us sadly.

Takashi frowns are he turns to look at the screen. "I'll take out the power generator. Keith, Lance, Hunk, you take out these big mining rigs around the area. Dani, you go with Pidge in the green lion for when we go on foot or the speedsters." He orders seriously.

Hunk cheers. "Yeah! Okay, let's do this! Let's go kick some alien butt!"

After we all get into the lions we need to get into, I hear Lance over coms ask, "You think the Balmerans will have a parade for us after we've freed everybody?"

"It's not about the glory, Lance. It's about freeing prisoners from Zarkon." Keith then reminds him calmly over coms.

"No, I know. I know. But still. When they-" Lance says before getting cut off as the Lions dart out of the Castle.

As soon as we were in sight of the weaponry, the defenses began firing blasts at us. "This is it. Get your heads in the game. Remember, the Balmera is a living creature." Takashi reminds us. "Make sure you pinpoint only the Galra installations and not its surface."

"Initiating cloak." Pidge says as the Green Lion disappears from view as we start dropping the BLIP tech into the tunnels. It wasn't long before Pidge coms Coran and Allura. "All sensors delivered."

As we come over to where the other lions are we then hear Keith say over coms, "Whoa! Did you guys just see that? I got fire power!"

"Hey! I want that!" Lance then responds.

Suddenly, the structure collapses, tilting over. "Oh, no!" Keith mutters. Hunk then flies over, his lion holding it up. "Hey, we can't let this thing hurt the Balmera." His lion using it's jetpacks to try and stay flying. Hunk was starting to grunt with the effort of keeping it up.

"I think my lion knows what to do!" Lance tells us. His lion opened its mouth, and shot out a blast of ice. It freezes the structure in its entirety and keeps it from falling. "Aw, snap! These rays are super cool, just like me!" Lance exclaims.

The lions then land on the ice. "Great job, team!" Takashi calls. We then wait. "Where are all the troops? They're not coming to the surface." Keith comments worriedly.

Hunk then responds, "Yeah, I remember seeing a lot of Galra guys down in the mines."

"We've located a hanger full of Galra fighters just below the surface." Allura interjects. "Someone has to take those out before they can launch."

"They're luring us down, but we have no choice." Takashi says. "Keith, Lance, you guys hit the hanger. Hunk, head to the prison to rescue Shay and the other Balmerans. Pidge, Dani, and I will track the Galra soldiers."

"Yes, sir." Keith responds.

"Ten-four." Lance replies.

"On it." Pidge says.

"Got it." I reply.

"Let's do this!" Hunk exclaims.

After Pidge landed the Green Lion, I follow her on my hoverboard as she speeds off in her speeder.

"Paladins, are you there?" Allura calls over coms. "The Galra troops are moving down the tunnels. It looks like they're going down toward the center."

"They must be headed to the core. That's where they're holding Shay." Hunk responds.

"They're drawing us into an ambush, but we don't have a choice if we want to save Shay." Takashi says with a voice tight with worry. "We have to follow. Lance, Keith, get to the core. I think we're going to need everyone together to get through this firefight."

"Copy that. We're on our way." Lance replies.

Pidge and I were speeding along in her speeder when she gasp, slowing the speeder to a sudden stop as the tunnel narrows. "Looks like you're in an area where the tunnels are too narrow for your speeder." Allura tells us over coms.

Pidge nods, jumping out of her speeder. "Yeah. Proceeding on foot." I hop off my hoverboard and put it in my wizarding space in my mokeskin pouch.

We walk for a little bit before we start hearing footsteps. "There's someone here." Pidge whispers.

"Looking into it." Allura replies. Pidge then readys her bayard. Just as she goes charging at who is coming up to us. Allura yells, "Pidge, no! Those are Balmerans!" Pidge then stops and sighs in relief. We then wave at them only for the ground to start shaking. We groan as we try to stay standing. The Balmerans then start running away whimpering and panting. One trips and the other two gasp as they stop and look at the one who fell. A rock then starts to fall right above the Balmeran who tripped. Pidge then activates her jetpack to get to the Balmeran and push her out of the way. I run as fast as I can and get to where Pidge is a half second after her.

Pidge gives the Balmeran she saved to the other two Balmerans. "Don't worry." Pidge tells the Balmerans.

Pidge then tells the others over coms, "Hey, team, be careful. The Balmera is very unstable."

We continue through the tunnels to the core. I can't help but get a bad feeling about this though. As we get to the doors I hear Takashi say, "Where are the Galra? If this is an ambush, they should be here waiting for us." After we all enter the core all the doors close.

"Not an ambush. More like a trap." Hunk says looking at the doors.

"Whatever it is, keep your guard up." Keith tells us.

Shay then tells us, "The Glara, they gained knowledge that you would return to the Balmera."

Pidge then asks, "How?"

"I know not. But they set this trap just for you. I was the bait." Shay responds.

"Who could have possibly known that we were heading here to save Shay?" Takasho asks.

"Rolo! Those liars must have told Zarkon." Hunk declares.

"I don't think so. Didn't Coran say that Shay's brother Rax sold you out to the Galra?" I ask.

"Yeah. But what's that got to do with them knowing we were coming back?" Hunk responds.

"Well they probably found out or realized from the way Rax that you care for Shay and when she was captured that you would come back eventually to try and save her." I reply.

"Anyway, we have to figure out how to get out of here." Takashi declares.

"Wait! We have a giant Castle ship hovering in the sky. Allura, can you please come get us?" Lance says.

"How do you expect her to do that, genius?" Keith asks.

"I don't know, maybe they got teleporters or something." Lance replies.

"I can teleport." I blurted out. I see everyone look at me in shock.

"We're quite occupied at the moment." Allura says voice tense before grunting. "We're completely surrounded by Galra ships and we're taking heavy fire!"

We can hear Coran yell, "Princess, our particle barrier won't last much longer!"

"Paladins, you need to get out of there as soon as you can!" Allura tells us.

Keith then turns to me and asks, "Dani can you use one of your spells or teleport us out of here one at a time?"

"If I try to teleport you guys out even one by one there is a good chance we could end up anywhere on the Balmera along with the fact that I'm not good with taking people on side-along apparition. I could leave one of your guys' body parts here on accident. And all the spells that I know that could open the doors will also injure the Balmera." I reply.

"This is it! We're going to die in here. I can say bye-bye to that parade." Lance says dramatically.

I glared at Lance as he said that.

"Get it together, guys. Allura, we'll get there as soon as we can."

"Perhaps my people can help us get out. This is how we communicate" Shay tells us as she places a hand on the core of the Balmera. "The Balmera senses our vibrations and sends a message to those in the tunnels."

"Are you sure someone will be able to hear your… hand from all the way from down here?" Keith asks her.

"The Balmera will deliver the message." Shay declares before closing her eyes and focusing.

The Balmera groans softly as the area around Shay's hand starts to glow. After a few minutes Allura says over coms, "Paladins, the lions are in danger! You must get back to them immediately!" Allura then gasps. "Paladins, do you copy? There's a battle cruiser locked onto us. If it fires with its ion cannon, I don't know if we can survive."

"We're trying, Allura. Shay's pressing her hand against a wall, which apparently sends vibrations to the other rock people, who vibrate back or something? Hand talking? I guess the answer to your question is, 'Yes, we copy.'"

"Shay, are you sure the Balmera is sending your message?" Takashi asks.

"Rax!" Shay exclaims.

"We must make haste. We know a shortcut through the tunnels." Rax tells us.

"Allura, stand by. We're on our way up." Takashi says over coms.

"Paladins, hurry! They're taking off with the lions!" Allura calls in alarm. I stayed on the Balmera with Shay and her family as the others got to their lions.

"Guys, did everyone make it to the lions in time?" Takashi asks.

Lance responds with, "Come on, Shiro. Who do you think you're dealing with, a bunch of amateurs?" Lance then yelps.

"You really want me to answer that?" Takashi asks Lance.

"No."

"Let's go!" Takashi exclaims.

As they go into battle with the Galra ships I listen over coms to try and keep up with their battle.

Suddenly I hear Pidge say over coms, "Hunk, watch out!"

"Got you covered!" I hear Takashi declare.

"Phew! Thanks, guys!"

I then hear Allura say, "Paladins, I need you immediately! Five more ticks and we're finished!"

As I look up to the sky I see a streak of light go through the sky with Shay and Rax gasping beside me.

I then hear an explosion and Keith and Hunk exclaim, "Yeah!"

"Nice shot, Princess!" Pidge yells.

"Yeah! The parade's back on!" Lance then exclaims. But just as we are starting to celebrate Coran says over coms, "There's an unknown object incoming! It's about to crash into the Balmera!"

"What the heck is that?" I hear Lance ask.

"Trouble." Takashi answers.


End file.
